Assessment of Early Growth Response of Moringa oleifera, Faidherbia albida and Cassia fistula to Liquid Organic Fertilizers in the Nursery

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out to assess the effects of two Liquid organic fertilizers (Bootstract and White fog) with the aim of investigating early growth response to M. oleifera, F. albida and C. fistula seedlings. The experiment was conducted at the Department of Forestry and Wildlife Nursery, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Maiduguri. It was laid out in 2×3 factorial in Completely Randomized Design (CRD), analyzed with respect to two (2) different Liquid organic fertilizer and three (3) species of trees, the growth variables measured were: seedlings height, seedlings leaf number and seedlings collar girth. The results of the study revealed that seedling height increased with weeks after germination with significant difference between Bootstract White fog from the control. The highest seedling height was the treatment with Bootstract at 6 weeks (12.33 cm). There was significant interaction between species and fertilizer in terms of plant height. The fertilizer treatments also significantly affected the collar diameter with the highest number for Bootstract (0.63) at 6 weeks with control having the lowest value of 0.26 at week 2. The leaf numbers were significantly affected at weeks 2 and 6, however, there was no significant difference (P< 0.05) at week 4. The study revealed that Liquid organic fertilizer demonstrated different growth performance as it supports rapid growth of M. olifera, F. albida, and C. fistula, seedlings more appropriately. In conclusion the result revealed that Liquid organic fertilizer has effect on the physical characteristics of the seedlings after germination emergence. It is evident from this study that Liquid organic fertilizers (White fog and Boostract) significantly enhance M. oleifera, F. albida and C. fistula seedlings growth.