Influence of Varying Rates of Fertilizers on the Performance of Cacao (Theobroma cacao) Seedlings in the Nursery

Abstract

AbstractThe effects of the application of poultry manure , organo-mineral fertilizer , and mineral fertilizer including nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) applied at varying rates to the soil or foliage of cacao seedlings were studied in the nursery between January–May 2011 and December to April 2012. Poultry manure added at 40, 50 and 60 g per plant significantly influenced the height and number of leaves of cacao seedlings over other treatments. The effect of organo-mineral fertilizer application at 50 and 60 g per plant on the number of leaves was also significantly better than NPK applied to soil or foliage, starting from 12 weeks after treatment application. The stem girth development following application of poultry manure at 50 and 60 g per plant application had the best performance, followed by poultry manure at 40 g per plant. There were no significant differences on the stem girth of seedlings in almost all the treatments at five weeks after sowing. The treatments with NPK led to the longest tap root length, while poultry manure led to the largest average number of lateral roots, followed by the organo-mineral treatments. The results thereby indicated that the use of poultry manure at 40–50 g per plant and organo-mineral fertilizer as sources of nutrients had significant beneficial effects on cacao seedling quality.KeywordsCacaoFertilizer productsFertilizer rateGrowthSeedling quality