Abstract
This study was carried out in two locations in south eastern Nigeria in the year 2008 and 2009, to evaluate growth and yield responses of cocoyam cultivars to rates of NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer. This was aimed at identifying high yielding cocoyam cultivars and optimum rates of the fertilizer for optimum cocoyam production. Two locations: Nsukka (Enugu state) and Umudike (Abia state) were used for this study. The experiment was done in Nsukka location in 2008 and repeated in Umudike in 2009. Five Colocasiaesculenta cultivars (Cocoindia, Nworoko, Odogolo, Nadu and Nkpong) and five rates of NPK 15:15:15 (100, 150, 200, 250 and 300 kg/ha) were tested. The result showed that application of NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer increased growth in cocoyam. However, the highest tuber yield/ha of 37.85 tons/ha at Nsukka and 20.845 tons/ha at Umudike were realized in response to the application of 200 and 250 kg/ha, respectively. Further increases above these rates in the locations caused non-significant decline in tuber yield. The Cocoindia cultivar also produced the highest tuber yield/ha among the five cultivars in both Nsukka (30.10 tons/ha) and Umudike (19.068 tons/ha). It was also observed that higher tuber yield was obtained in Nsukka location than in Umudike location. This study has shown that the application of NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer increased tuber yield in cocoyam grown in the south eastern Nigeria. Key words: Colocasia esculenta, cultivars, fertilizer and tuber yield.
Highlights
Cocoyam is the common name for two tuber crops Colocasisa esculenta and Xanthosomona sagitifolum
This study has shown that the application of NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer increased tuber yield in cocoyam grown in the south eastern Nigeria
The significant effect caused by application of NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer to the cocoyam plots showed that soil in these areas lacked essential nutrients, especially those that enhance growth and development in cocoyam
Summary
Cocoyam is the common name for two tuber crops Colocasisa esculenta and Xanthosomona sagitifolum. Nigeria is presently the World’s highest producer of cocoyam, producing about 1800000 tons of cocoyam per annum, accounting for about 30% of the World’s total and 48% of Africa’s total production (Onwueme and Sinha, 1991). This is produced in an estimated land area of 350000 ha. In Nigeria, cocoyam production, like production of other crops, is still carried out by poor rural farmers These resource poor farmers account for over 90% of Nigeria’s agricultural output through the use of the indigenous farming practices (Fadina and Ogunyemi, 2002; Apantaku, 2000)
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