Influence of Two Doses of Hen Droppings on Emergence and Growth of Five Provenances of <i>Sesamum indicum</i> L. Grown on the Sands of Brazzaville, Congo

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of hen droppings on the emergence and growth of local sesame. A 5 x 3 complete bi-factorial combination, represented by the factors "provenance" and "dose", was inserted into a complete randomised block design. Three replicates were used. Here, the treatment was defined as the combination of five variants of the provenance factor with the three variants of the dose factor. A total of fifteen treatments, repeated 3 times, were studied. Five variables were monitored in the field: field emergence percentage, plant height (cm), crown diameter (mm), number of primary branches and number of leaves emitted on the main stem. The results showed that the curves for percentage emergence over 9 weeks showed almost similar behaviour for the last observation at week 9. In such cases, some statistics revealed significant differences not only between blocks but also between treatments. This suggested that the visual similarity in factor behaviour, for such variables, may be real or fake. For variables that did not discriminate between blocks, the idea of dividing the experimental site into blocks was not justified. Provenances P1 and P5 appeared to be insensitive to organic fertiliser inputs, whereas P2, P3 and P4 were it. This could be explained by whether or not they were sensitive to competition effects. For diameter at collar, treatments P2D1 and P5D1 combining Mouyondzi (P2) and Ngoko (P5) provenances as well as P4D1 and P4D2 combining Boundji (P4) provenance could be recommended to farmers located in the southern part of Brazzaville department. Nevetheless, their insensitivity could temper such recommendation. Concerning plant height, treatments P5D1 and P5D2 could be recommended to farmers located in the southern part of the Brazzaville region. Nevertheless, its supposed insensitivity at doses of hence droppings tempers our recommendations. For the number of leaves emitted and number of primary branches, treatments P5D0 and P5D1 as well as P5D1 and P5D2 combining provenance P5 could be recommended to farmers located in the southern part of the Brazzaville région at condition that its supposed insensitivity is not confirmed during confirmation trial.