Journal of Applied Biosciences (J. Appl. Biosci.) [ISSN 1997 - 5902]
Volume 16: 887 - 893. Published April 4, 2009.
Effects of fertilizer, organic mulch and sucker hot water treatment on nematode populations and productivity of plantain
Akinyemi S.O.S.*^, A.A. Kintomo^, T. Ojurongbe", P.Y.K. Sallah*^^, T. Ndabamenye* and D. Nkezabahizi*
* Institut des sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda (ISAR), Highland Agricultural Research Center, B.P. 73, Ruhengeri, Rwanda ; ^ Current address: National Horticultural Research Institute, P.M.B. 5432, Idi-Ishin, Jericho, Ibadan, Nigeria; " Department of Biometry & Population Genetics, Justus Liebig University, Interdisciplinary Research Center, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, D-35392 Giessen, Germany; *^^CSIR-Crop Research Institute, P.O. Box 3785, Kumasi, Ghana.
*^Corresponding author email:sosaking2002@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Objectives: To investigate the effects of fertilizer (F), organic mulch (Tithonia diversifolia) (M) and hot water treatment (H) on nematode population, growth and yield of plantain (Musa AAB, cv ‘Agbagba’).
Methodology and results: The study was conducted from 2003 to 2005 at the National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan, Nigeria. The treatments included: (1) mulching each sucker with 5.0 kg of Tithonia diversifolia leaves (M) alone at six- week intervals; (2) hot water immersion (H) of suckers after paring the corms; (3) hot water immersion + 5.0 kg of Tithonia diversifolia leaves (HM) at six- week intervals; (4) no mulch nor hot water immersion (C). These sets of treatments were combined with two fertilizer levels (0 and 450 kg/ha N.P.K 15-15-15) to give a total of eight treatments arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Application of Tithonia mulch and hot water treatment without fertilizer significantly reduced the nematode infestation. Application of mulch and fertilizer (MF) significantly increased pseudostem height and girth; and also reduced days to shooting of plantain. The HMF combination resulted in the highest bunch yield of 11.87 t/ha which was not significantly different from HF and MF.
Key words
Fertilizer, Musa (plantain), nematode, Tithonia diversifolia, mulchFULL PAPER [PDF AVAILABLE HERE ]
