Neem leaf and poultry manures soil amendment on growth and yield of Telfairia occidentalis

Abstract

Telfairia occidentalis is a widely used leafy and seed vegetable in West Africa and adequate soil fertility management is essential for its higher productivity. Field experiments were conducted on neem leaf and poultry manures soil amendment to assess the growth and yields of Telfairia occidentalis between 2013 and 2014 cropping seasons. The experiment was laid out in a randomised complete block design with four replications to include 5 t ha -1 of neem leaf manure (NLM), 5 t ha -1 of poultry manure (PM), 2.5 t ha -1 of neem leaf manure plus 2.5 t ha -1 of poultry manure (NLM+PM) and control. Data collected on vegetative and yield related components were subjected to analysis of variance at p < 0.05 significance level. The results showed that number of leaves, vine length, leaf area and number of branches increased significantly (p < 0.05) in plants treated with NLM, PM and NLM+PM from 2-5 months after planting (MAP) compared to control. At five MAP, NLM+PM significantly (p < 0.05) produced more leaves (52.5; 56.4), longer vines (473.0; 488.4cm), more branches (14.6; 16.3) compared to sole treatment and control. In addition, foliar yield (4.29; 4.94 t ha ‑1 ), number of pods/plant (3.09; 4.11), length of pods (72.80; 81.60cm), number of seeds/pod (87.62; 89.51), seeds yield (61.60; 62.54 t ha -1 ) and pod yield (49.85; 50.15 t ha -1 ) produced were higher in plants treated with combined manures in the two cropping seasons. The applied combined manures (neem leaf and poultry) could be exploited for soil improvement and sustainable yield increase of Telfairia occidentalis production.