Comparison of Organic Nutrient Sources with NPK for Cashew Seedlings Growth towards Organic Cashew Farming in Nigeria

Abstract

As a preliminary effort to commence organic cashew farming in Nigeria, a study to assess the growth performance of cashew seedlings was conducted in two consecutive trials using four organic nutrient sources namely cow dung, poultry droppings, cocoa pod husk and kola pod husk compared with NPK (15:15:15) and control - without fertilizer. The trial was conducted in the greenhouse at Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, Ibadan, in a completely randomized design with 4 replications. Data on agronomy parameters and dry matter yield after 6-months of planting were taken and statistically analyzed using ANOVA and significant mean differences were separated by LSD at p<0.05. Cashew seedling growth performance was significantly (p<0.05) influenced by fertilizer application over the control in both trial periods. The plant root growth was significantly (p<0.05) better with organic nutrient sources compared to NPK. Cashew seedlings leaf, stem and root dry matter yield values were least in control treated plants and highest for poultry droppings. Similar trend but with higher values of 7.7-23.5% were obtained at the 2ndtrial than for 1st trial for the fertilizer treated cashew seedlings, while it was reduced by 6.56% for the control. On the overall, the fertilizer treated cashew seedlings had significantly (p<0.05) higher dry matter yield of 60.4 - 117.4% compared with the control plants. The organic fertilizers were superior to NPK while the organic fertilizers of animal origin were superior to those of plant origin.