Effect Of Mini-Nut Techniques On The Growth Of Cola Nitida Conus (Kola) Seedlings

Abstract

Cola nitida , also known as Kola nut is a tropical tree crop which belongs to the family sterculiaceae. The study investigated the effect of mini-nut technique on the growth of Cola nitida . Seeds were planted directly inside polythene pots containing different potting media. The growths of the plants were monitored properly for 12 th weeks. The experiment were laid out in 4 x 4 factorial experiment (25%, 50%, 75%, 100% of Cola nitida each were planted in polythene pots contain four (4) different media which are (topsoil, coconut husk, saw dust, rich husk) making sixteen treatments altogether, these were laid out in Complete Randomize Design replicated two times. The parameters assessed were plant height, stem diameter and leaf production. The results were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The result showed that there were no significant differences among the treatment at 5% level of significance. But the mean results showed that the 100% of nut planted inside the top soil (T 4 ) and 75% of nut (T 11 ) planted inside the saw dust produced highest mean value of (9.40cm) and (8.60cm) in plant height, while 100% of nut planted inside the rice husk (T 16 ) had the highest mean value of (0.50cm) in plant diameter; also under leaf production 25% of nut planted inside the rice husk (T 13 ) had the highest leaf production of (2.50). Based on the results of this experiment, mini-nut technique in the propagation of kola nut seeds can be recommended for farmers in any of the potting media mentioned above since there is no significant difference across the media. It was observed that the propagation of Cola nitida from mini-nut techniques was a success, even though there were no significant differences across the factors