Evaluating the Effects of Biochar and Organic Soil Amendments on Seedling Development of Annona muricata. Linn

Abstract

The importance of appropriate growth media for propagation of Annona muricata seedlings cannot be over emphasized. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of biochar and organic soil amendments on seedling development of Annona muricata using different potting media. The treatments were Control; Topsoil only (T0), Mineralized goat dung (T1), Mineralized saw dust (T2), Mineralized poultry dropping (T3) and Mineralized biochar (T4). The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Parameters accessed include seedling height (cm), collar diameter (cm) and number of leaves.  The data collected were subjected to analysis of variance and significant means were separated using Duncan multiple range test at 0.05 significant level. Result shows that Mineralized biochar had the best performance in seedling height, collar diameter and number of leaves with mean values of 26.703±1.5488, 4867±0.22904 and 4.4451±1.55031 respectively. While the least performance in seedling height, collar diameter and number of leaves was recorded in the control with mean values of 19.986±1.1265, 0.3230±0.17363 and 3.6765±1.14724 respectively. However, there were significant differences in seedling heights and collar diameter among the treatment types at 5% level of probability, but the number of leaves was not significant. Annona muricata seedlings thrives excellently in biochar potting media. Hence, the use of biochar potting media should be adopted as the best growth media for early growth and development of Annona muricata seedlings.