Browsing by Author "Adeyemi, A.A. and Dike, I.M."

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    Evaluation of Pterocarpus mildbraedii. Harm Performance under Different Growth Conditions
    (Association of Women in Forestry (AWIFE), 2018-07-15) Adeyemi, A.A. and Dike, I.M.
    Growth response of Pterocarpus mildbraedii under different sowing media and fertilizer applications was evaluated. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD). Forty-eight trays were filled with each of the sowing media (garden topsoil, river-sand and sawdust). Each of the trays was sown with ten seeds making 480 seeds per medium. Five weeks after germination, seedlings were pricked-out and potted using 16 cm-poly pots. The seedlings were allowed to grow for another six weeks. Thereafter, they were transplanted to the field, at 5 m espacement. After the seedlings were established in the field, manures were applied on all the seedlings under each of the sowing media using two manures (i.e. Poultry droppings and cow dung) as well as NPK (15: 15: 15) with zero-fertilizer application as the control. Data were collected on germination and early seedling growth parameters eight weeks after. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), t-test and regression analysis for establishing relationship among growth parameters. Follow-up test was carried out on significant result. Pterocarpus mildbraedii germinated in 3 to 17 days. The germinations peaked on the 4th day in river-sand and topsoil, and on the 11th day in sawdust. Germination was highest in sawdust (43.3%) and least in topsoil (37.1%). The results showed that leaf number were not significantly different among the sowing media (P > 0.05) with an average of 4 leaves per plant. However, there were significant differences in collar diameters, seedling heights and leaf areas among the treatments (P < 0.05) with highest mean values in sawdust. Poultry droppings improved seedling height growth by 2.50 cm, 1.75 cm and 1.2 cm in river-sand, sawdust and topsoil, respectively after eight weeks of planting. The best height prediction equation for P. mildbraedii seedling was Ht = 7.77 + 6.25CD – 0.0517LA + 0.373LN R2 = 0.59; RMSE = 1.679). Height was the best predictor of collar diameter as in CD = 0.258 + 0.0765Ht (R2 = 0.51; RMSE = 0.192). There were no suitable predictors for leaf area and leaf number.