Evaluation of different nutritional and soil sources on the early growth of Moringa oleifera (Lam.)
In any plantation establishment programme their must be adequate number of healthy seedlings and these depend on the nutrition and care given to them at the nursery stage. Pot experiment was conducted to assess the response of Moringa oleifera (Lam.) seedlings to different soil and nutritional sources at nursery stage. One hundred seeds were obtained from Centre for Environmental Renewable Resources Research and Development (CENRAD), Ibadan, Nigeria, and sown in germination trays. Seed germination was completed between 10-15 days, 36 uniformly growing seedlings were transplanted into polythene pots of size 29 cm x 25 cm and were filled with different soil sources at 500 g (arable) soil, forest reserve soil and natural forest mixed with nutritional sources of the same ratio (10 g) i.e. poultry manure, cow dung and NPK (15:15:15). The experiment was factorial arranged in a completely randomized design. Result showed that pots with natural forest soil mixed with 10 m NPK (s3f3) produced seedlings with highest value. In plant height (76.30 cm), stem diameter (3.47 mm) and number of branches (10) which was significantly different (p > 0.01) from the other treatments. The least value in plant height (30.70 cm) stem diameter (1.50 mm) and number of branches (3.3) were recorded in pots with forest reserve soil mixed with cow dung (s2f2). Interaction effect of soil and nutritional sources were significant for all the growth parameters assessed (p > 0.01). Natural forest soils treated with NPK (15:15:15) should be employed in raising Moringa oleifera seedlings at nursery stage for optimum performance.