Soilless Nursery Media for African Oil Bean (Pentaclethra macrophylla Benth) Seedling Production

Abstract

African oil bean (Pentaclethra macrophylla) is an important multi-purpose tree crop. However, bottleneck in seedling production to fully domesticate this crop has not been resolved. This study was carried out to compare the effect of three different soilless media on the production of Pentaclethra macrophylla seedlings. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design (crd) with 10 replications using potting bags (25 x 23 cm) filled with the treatments namely sawdust + poultry manure (sd+pm) 3:1 volume by volume (v/v), rice hull + poultry manure (rh +pm) 3:1 v/v, and groundnut husk + poultry manure (gh + pm) 3:1 v/v. Top soil served as the control. Germination and plant growth parameters were studied; days to emergence, germination count (%), plant height and number of leaves at 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 days after planting (dap). Germination count (%) was recorded highest on sd + pm while gh + pm had the least. This study suggests the use of sd + pm for seedling production.