Effect of Arburscular mycorrhizea [AM], poultry manure [PM], NPK fertilizer and the combination of AM-PM on the growth and yield of okra [Abelmoschus esculentus].

Abstract

Five accessions of Okra Abelmoschus esculentus, obtained from two research and academic institutions in Nigeria were used to assess the effect of Arbuscular mycorrhizea [AM], poultry Manure [PM], inorganic fertilizer [NPK], and the synergy of AM and PM on the growth and yield of okra. The experiment was a pot experiment carried out at the Babcock University horticultural garden [rain forest ecology] during the late planting season of November 2011 to January 2012. This experiment was a 5 x 5 factorial, laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with 5replications.  Data were collected on nine yield related characters. The combined Analysis of Variance showed significance in the treatment, accession, replication and accession x treatment interaction effects on majority of the traits evaluated at 0.01 and 0.05 probabilities. Combination of AM-PM treatment produced a significantly positive and high results in the traits observed although, it was not significantly different from NPK treatment results in all traits. This implies that AM-PM treatment can conveniently replace NPK in the growth and yield of okra. There was a significant positive correlation between plant height, leaf area, fruit width at maturity, pod weight and seed weight in okra. The varieties Bab okr3 and NH.Cb/07/008 at maturity performed well in pod weight per plant and fruit length and would make good and reliable putative parent for selection in an okra hybridization program.