Evaluation of the Effects of Organic and Mineral Fertilizers with Mycorrhiza on the Dry Matter Yield and Nutrient Uptake of Theobroma Cacao in Ibadan, Nigeria

A greenhouse trial was conducted at Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, Ibadan, to evaluate the effects of organic and mineral fertilizers with and without Mycorrhiza on the dry matter yield and nutrient uptake of CRIN Tc-1 and F3 Amazon cocoa seedling in Ibadan. The treatments consist of cocoa pod husk (CPH), Tithonia diversifolia leaves (TD) , combination of CPH and TD (CPH+TD) and NPK fertilizer which were applied to F3 amazon and Tc1 hybrids of cocoa at two levels of mycorrhiza (with and without) inoculation, to supply 10Kg N/ha respectively and laid out in completely randomized design (CRD) in three replicates. All the fertilizer treatments with mycorrhiza were significantly (p<0.05) higher than the treatments without mycorrhiza for N uptake except for NPK and control. Application of sole CPH under mycorrhiza inoculation significantly (p<0.05) enhanced phosphorus uptake in TC1 relative to the control. Potassium uptake was significantly(p<0.05) enhanced by CPH and CPH+TD without mycorrhiza. CPH with mycorrhiza gave the highest leaf and root dry matter yield (DMY) which were significantly higher than the control for Tc-1, while for F3Amazon, TD with mycorrhiza gave the highest root DMY relative to the control. It can therefore be concluded that optimal and sustainable growth and dry matter yield of cocoa seedlings could be achieved by the use of organic fertilizer materials such as TD and CPH in combination with mycorrhiza.