Effect Of Nitrogen And Potassium On The Yield And Quality Of Ginger In The Derived Savanna Zone Of Obubra, Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

The field experiment on ginger was carried out at the Derived savanna zone of Obubra which lies within latitude 06 0 5 1 and 06 0 10 1 North and longitude 08 0 21 1 and 08 0 25 1 of the Cross River State University of Technology experimental farm during the 2006 and 2007 cropping season to evaluate the response of ginger with different levels of nitrogen (N) (0,100, 200, 300 and 400kg/ha) and potassium (K) (0, 150, 100, 150 and 200kg/ha). It is revealed that combined application of N and K was found more pronounced than the single effect of N and K. It is also noticed that the effect of nitrogen was more distinct than K. The combined effect of N and K had significantly increased the yield and other yield contributing characters of ginger. It was also observed that N300 and K150 kg/ha significantly augmented the ginger yield and other yield parameters. However, the highest plant height (69.3 cm and 63.7cm), maximum number of leaves (20.5 and 18.8), leaf area (39.7cm 3 and 36.3cm 3 ) and total number of shoot (5.5 and 7.3) were recorded at N400 K100 kg/ha and were significantly different over NoKo. Similarly, rhizome yield was also significantly influenced by combined application of N and K up to N300 K150 kg/ha. With highest yield (8.1 t/ha and 8.0 t/ha) and the two years mean yield of 8.0 t/ha were recorded during the trials.