Effect of different doses of laying hen manure on the vegetative development of oil palm at the prenursery and nursery stages

Abstract

Organic fertilizers are beneficial and less expensive if applied in adequate doses. This is how the present investigation aims to determine the optimal quantity of manure from laying hens to apply to oil palm trees in the prenursery and in the nursery. To do this, different proportions of manure from laying hens combined with those of potting soil constituted the treatments applied to oil palms. Growth parameters such as collar diameter, length of longest leaf, number of leaves emitted, and height of seedlings and plants were assessed. The results obtained showed that, regardless of the growth parameter, the maximum values ​​were recorded at a dose of 6.67% of laying hen manure, i.e. one volume of laying hen manure for 14 volumes of potting soil and at the dose of 16.67% of laying hen manure, i.e. one volume of laying hen manure for 5 volumes of potting soil for the prenursery and nursery stages, respectively. On the other hand, the growth parameters suffered from the effects of overdoses of manure from laying hens which ended up becoming toxic and even lethal to the plants. In this study, one volume of laying hen manure for 14 volumes of potting soil and one volume of laying hen manure for 5 volumes of potting soil were respectively retained as optimal quantities for the prenursery and nursery stages, respectively.