Four growth media were evaluated for their effect on emergence and growth of tamarind seedlings in the nursery. The nursery media comprised of two rice hull based media (RHB) and two saw dust based media (SDB) formulated on volume basis in the following ratios: 1:2:3 (rice hull: poultry manure: river sand), 2:3:1 (rice hull: poultry manure: river sand), 1:4:3 (Saw dust: poultry manure: river sand) and 1:2:3 (Saw dust: poultry manure: river sand). The soilless nursery media were laid out in completely randomized design (CRD), replicated five times.  Analysis of variance revealed significant effect of growth media on emergence and seedling growth of tamarind. The saw dust based media exhibited superior performance in most seedling growth characters evaluated, including dry matter attributes. This has been ascribed to the use of well weathered saw dust and inclusion of higher proportions of poultry manure in the saw dust based media which may have supplied more nitrogen to compensate for N depletion by microbial decomposition activities characteristic of saw dust.
Key words:Emergence, dry matter, growth media; seedling growth, tamarind seedlings.