Effect of chemical and organic fertilizers on growth and yield of two roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) cultivars

Abstract

Chemical and organic fertilizers are limit factors of crops growth. A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive summer seasons (2011 and 2012) at the Demonstration Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Omdurman Islamic University (Fitaihab). The objective of the study was to investigate on the effect of chemical and organic fertilizers on growth and yield of roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.). Two varieties namely Bulk (V1 – local) and Omshiback (V2- improved) were used to assess their performance in respect to application of chemical and organic fertilizers. Chemical fertilizer involved 0, 40, 80 kg N/fed and 40 N + 40 kg P2O5/fed, whereas fermented organic fertilizers were 2 ton chicken manure/fed and 3 ton cattle manure/fed. The experiment was designed in a split-plot design with four replications. The findings of the study reveal that, among the two varieties, there were no significant differences between them for all studied parameters (plant height, number of nodes/plant, number of leaves/plant, leaf area, number branches/plant, plant dry weight and yield of dry calyces), except number of nodes/plant during the 1st season, when V1 significantly exceeded V2 for this parameter. Meanwhile, application of chemical and organic fertilizers significantly affected only number of leaves/plant only during the 1st season, when both F1 and F2 treatments obtained the significantly higher mean of this parameter as compared to the other treatments.