Soil-based Media for Germination and Growth of African Oil Bean (Pentaclethra macrophylla Benth) Seedlings

Abstract

An experiment was carried out, involving three different soil-based media constituted at four media ratios, on seedling emergence and growth of African oil bean (Pentaclethra macrophylla Benth) seed at the plant house of School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Federal University of Technology Owerri, to determine the best media for mass production of oil bean seedlings. The top soil alone served as the control while the other three soil-based media; top soil mixed with cow dung, top soil mixed with rice hull and top soil mixed with saw dust were prepared in the ratios: 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 and 1:4. The treatments were laid out in a Completely Randomised Design (CRD) and replicated six times. Data were collected on days to emergence, plant height, numbers of root hairs, and root length, taken 50 days after planting (DAP). The combination of top soil mixed with saw dust (at 1:3 ratio) performed better than the other media in all the parameters studied showing earliest time of approximately 18 days to emergence, highest mean value of 23.50 cm for plant height, highest mean value of 119 for number of root hairs and 26.60 cm root length.