Potential of Albizia zygia and Albizia lebbeck leafy biomasses as organic soil amendments on the growth and yield of okra, Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench

Abstract

In the array to assess the suitability of using amendments from nitrogen fixing trees in agroforestry, the response of okra to Albizia lebbeck and Albizia zygia leafy biomasses as soil amendments were investigated at the Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources Demonstration Farm in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi-Ghana. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of different levels of A. lebbeck and A. zygia leafy biomasses on the growth and yield of okra in a randomized complete block design. Four treatments were used and allocated as T1 (Control, no biomass), T2 (0.2454 kg of A. lebbeck leafy biomass per 2.7 m2), T3 (0.2932 kg of A. zygia leafy biomass per 2.7 m2), T4 (0.2127 kg of A. lebbeck leafy biomass + 0.1466 kg of A. zygia leafy biomass per 2.7 m2. The treatments were replicated four times. Growth in height, stem diameter, fruit yield and fruit dry weight were the parameters investigated on. The application of A. lebbeck and A. zygia leafy biomasses as soil amendment significantly improve the growth (height and stem diameter) and yield (fruit yield and fruit dry weight) of okra compared to the control treatment during the twelve weeks period of the experiment (p˂0.05). Therefore, A. lebbeck and A. zygia leafy biomass amendments are recommended for use by okra farmers, as it has great prospects for use in soil fertility improvement.