Abstract
Nutritional food content of seed and effect of five different growing media: Top forest soil (TS), sawdust (SD), 2:1 mixture of; TS+SD, TS+composted poultry manure (TS+PM) and 2:1:1 mixture of TS+SD+PM on the seed germination and seedling growth of Afzelia Africana SM Caesalpiniaceae were investigated. Thirteen chemical food nutrients were detected in the species seed. These occurred in varying percentages. The mixed growing media (2:1:1 mixture of TS+SD+PM, 2:1 mixture of TS+SD and TS+PM) consistently had: higher percentages of: water holding capacity and nitrogen than the single media (TS and SD). Shorter periods of initial and final seed germination were achieved when seeds were sown in the mixed growing media than in the single growing media. The highest percentage seed germination (87.4%) was achieved when seeds were sown in 2:1:1 mixture of TS+SD+PM growing medium, while the poorest percentage seed germination (30.5%) was obtained when seeds were sown in the TS growing medium, the control. Comparatively, the mixed media induced higher percentage seed germination responses than the single growing media. After four weeks growth in the nursery, values of seedling growth parameters showed that seedlings grown in the mixed growing media had better growth attributes than seedlings grown for the same period in the single media. The results also showed that the best growth attributes were developed by seedlings grown in 2:1:1 mixture of TS+SD+PM (mean: Seedling height 22.4cm., number of leaves, 22 and mean leaf area 120.6cm2). Key words: Afzelia Africana, seed nutrient content, growing media, seed germination, and seedling growth attributes.
Highlights
In most developing countries, extensive research have been done on the exotic/introduced food crop species like Manihot spp., Mangifera indica, Zea mays, Triticum durum, Musa spp., etc.Similar research activities on the indigenous food crops like Afzelia Africana, Myranthus arboreus, Discorea bulbifera, Treculia africana, Brachystagia, etc are either scare or lacking. Okafor (1983) reported that lack of research activities on the indigenous food crop species were due to late appreciation of the values of their resources, except revenue generation for the resource poor rural dwellers, lack of knowledge of their propagation methods and lack of information on their nutritional contents
The highest percentage seed germination (87.4%) was achieved when seeds were sown in 2:1:1 mixture of Top forest soil (TS)+SD+poultry manure (PM) growing medium, while the poorest percentage seed germination (30.5%) was obtained when seeds were sown in the TS growing medium, the control
The results showed that the best growth attributes were developed by seedlings grown in 2:1:1 mixture of TS+SD+PM
Summary
Extensive research have been done on the exotic/introduced food crop species like Manihot spp. (cassava), Mangifera indica (mango), Zea mays, (maize), Triticum durum (wheat), Musa spp., etc.Similar research activities on the indigenous food crops like Afzelia Africana, Myranthus arboreus, Discorea bulbifera, Treculia africana, Brachystagia, etc are either scare or lacking. Okafor (1983) reported that lack of research activities on the indigenous food crop species were due to late appreciation of the values of their resources, except revenue generation for the resource poor rural dwellers, lack of knowledge of their propagation methods and lack of information on their nutritional contents. Extensive research have been done on the exotic/introduced food crop species like Manihot spp. Okafor (1983) reported that lack of research activities on the indigenous food crop species were due to late appreciation of the values of their resources, except revenue generation for the resource poor rural dwellers, lack of knowledge of their propagation methods and lack of information on their nutritional contents. Most of these valuable indigenous food crop species are endangered while some like Discorea bulbifera has gone extinct. Research activities on the indigenous food crops have not been included in most nations‟ research activities or in any arm of national agricultural programmes
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