Seed Germination and Early Growth of Dacryodes Edulis as Influenced by Some Nursery Techniques

Abstract

This study was aimed at assessing the effect of some nursery operations such as soil amendment, growing medium, soaking time for both cold and warm water and sowing depth on seed germination of Dacryodes edulis. The parameters assessed were germination rate, leaf area (cm), number of leaves, collar diameter (cm) and height (cm). The experiments were carried out using complete randomized design (CRD) with three replication and data obtained were analyzed using a two-way analysis (ANOVA) at 5% probability level. The result obtained indicated that top soil had the highest germination rate (64%) for soil amendment, while sawdust was the best growing medium with 80% germination rate. Soaking in warm water for 30 minutes produced the best germination rate (56%) for warm water and soaking for 24hrs gave the best germination rate (40%) for cold water. In terms of depth of planting, 4cm depth had the highest rate (50%) for germination. For growth parameters, wood ash had the highest collar diameter (0.39cm), top soil had the highest leaf area (68.23cm), pig manure had the highest leaves number (10.83), while poultry dropping had the highest plant height (982.85cm). This study recommend planting Dacryodes edulis should be grown on topsoil without any pretreatment as this provides an optimum growth for the species at a lesser cost to the farmer.