Growth and Yield Responses of Three Varieties of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) to NPK fertilizer, Poultry manure and Moringa leaf

Abstract

The continuous increase in cost of inorganic fertilizer has created a desired to seek for alternative nutrients sources for better performance in okra production. Consequent upon this, a pot experiment was conducted to investigate the response of three varieties of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) to NPK 15-15-15 fertilizer (NPK), poultry manure (PM) and moringa leaf (FML (fresh) and DML (dry)) at the Teaching and Research farm of Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekit, Nigeria. Two seeds each of Clemson spineless, Cajun delight and Beck's big okra varieties were planted in each pot and seedling thinned to one two weeks after planting (WAP) laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) replicated three times. NPK, PM, FML and DML was added as a basal application at the rate of 250 kg/ha, 10 mt/ha and 1200 kg/ha separately to each set of okra variety. Data were collected on plant height, leaf length, leaf width and a number of leaves, a number of fruits and fruit fresh weight. All data were subjected to analysis of variance with mean separated using Duncan's multiple range test at 5 % level of probability. The three okra varieties response varies with the treatments applied. Beck's big okra was the tallest plant (62.8cm) and have highest number of leaves (6.33) in NPK application but DML has the highest total number of fruits per plant (17). The three varieties were not significantly different in fruit weight with all the treatments applied. FML and DML compete well with NPK and PM in growth and yield parameters despite the variation in the number of fruits produced. It shows that for cost effectiveness and availability, low income okra farmers can adopt the use of moringa leaves in okra production.