Influence of Fertilizer and Polythene Bag Size on Early Growth Assessment of Locust Bean (Parkia biglobosa Jacq.) in Kebbi State Nigeria

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study early growth of Locust bean as influenced by fertilizer and sizes of polythene bag in Sudan Savanna environment. Seeds were sown directly into the polythene bags of various sizes (23x8cm, 23x14cm and 23x26.4cm) filled with topsoil and fertilizer was applied at four (4) different levels (0g, 5g, 10g and 15g) per polythene bag size, after two weeks of germination in a 3x4 factorial experiment using Completely Randomized Design. Watering was done once daily and data were collected fortnightly for 10 weeks on: percentage survival, stem height, collar diameter and number of leaves. The data were analyzed using Descriptive Statistics and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the sizes of polythene bags on seedlings growth of P. biglobosa, even though, Pot size 23x14cm filled with 2kg of topsoil without fertilizer was recommended for raising seedlings of P. biglobosa in the nursery.