Effects of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizer, Soil and ...

Please purchase PDFcamp Printer on http://www.verypdf.com/ to remove this watermark. Journal of Sustainable Development in Agriculture and Environment Vol. 2(1) 2006 ISSN 0794-8867

Effects of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizer, Soil and Sawdust on Vigour of Tomato (Lycopersicon lycopersicum (L.) Kart) Seedlings in Yola, Nigeria Gungula, D.T. and Tame, V. Department of Crop Production and Horticulture,. Federal University of Technology, Yola, Nigeria. E-mail [email protected]

Abstract This study was undertaken at the Landscaping Unit of the Federal University of Technology, Yola (9o 141 N, 12o 381 E and 158.5 m above sea level) in 2005 to determine the effects of organic manure, inorganic fertilizer, and different media on the vigour of tomato seedlings. The experimental layout was split plot design with 7 main plots which consisted of soil, sawdust, and their mixtures in the ratio of 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 2:1, and 3:1 by volume, and 8 sub-plot treatments which were zero nutrient level, 4 levels of cow dung (¼, 1/3, ½, and 1 by volume to the growth media, and 3 levels of NPK (15:15:15) fertilizer which were 10, 12.5 and 15 g per pot. Roma VF tomato seed were used. The data collected were analyzed using GLM procedure of SAS and means separation was done using LSD. There were highly significant differences among the media and also among the nutrients on the seedling vigour. Mixtures of saw dust and soil in the ratio of 1:3, 1:2, 2:1 and 1:1 produced more vigourous seedlings. Among the nutrients the best vigour (6.05) was at 150 kg NPK/ha. There were highly significant interactions between the growth media and the nutrients while the interactions between NPK fertilizer rates and soil:sawdust media (1:1 and 1:2) gave the highest seedling vigour. It was concluded that farmers can raise vigourous tomato seedling with mixtures of sawdust and soil supplemented by NPK fertilizers within 4 weeks.

Key word: Vigour, soil, sawdust, organic and inorganic fertilizers.

Introduction The most important issue in successful vegetable production is to grow fast, strong and healthy seedlings in the shortest possible time (Rodo and Filho, 2003). Techniques that will improve the speed of germination, seedling vigour and fast seedling establishment are needed. The use of growth media constituted from a balanced mixture of several constituents could possibly be one of these techniques. This technique is cheap since the materials needed for the media could be sourced locally and are readily available. It is also simple and can easily be adopted by even illiterate farmers. It could offer a suitable alternative for

raising seedling and cultivation of crop throughout the year. Early seedling establishment ensures uniform crop growth and high yield by increasing tolerance of the plant to diseases and adverse environmental conditions (Turk et al., 2004). Sometimes, farmers are faced with the task of raising seedlings within a short period so as to meet with the time of transplanting. Sometimes the farmers might have for some reasons started his operations late and so he may need to raise the seedlings as fast as possible. Therefore, in places where timeliness in raising of nursery becomes difficult due to adverse environmental conditions, a cheap and simple technology of raising seedlings needs to be evolved which is

Please purchase PDFcamp Printer on http://www.verypdf.com/ to remove this watermark. Gungula and Tame: Effects of Fertilizer, Soil and Sawdust on Vigour of Tomato Seedlings

appropriate and cost effective like the use of sawdust and manure (Taylor et al., 1998). This will facilitate the production of tomato at all times thereby ensuring the availability of tomato fruits throughout the year. This study was undertaken to investigate the use of sawdust and fertilizer in raising fast growing and vigourous tomato seedlings.

Materials and Methods An experiment was conducted in 2005 with first trial starting from 2nd January and ending on 27th February; second trial from 5th February to 30th March and third trial from 5th March to 30th April 2005 at the Landscaping Unit of the Federal University of Technology, Yola. Yola is located in Northern Guinea Savannah region of Nigeria between Latitude 9 o 141 N and Longitude 12 o 381 E, at an altitude of 158.5 metres above sea level (Kowal and Knabe, 1972). Yola has an annual mean minimum temperature of 15.20C and maximum mean temperature of 390C (Adebayo, 1999). Seeds of improved tomato variety Roma VF were used and the germination percentage of the seeds was 95%. Nursery poly bags measuring 40 cm x 25 cm (1571.1 cm3) were used for raising the seedlings. Seeds were sown 25 in each poly bag. The experiment was laid out in a spilt plot-design with three replications. The treatment combinations were the growing media and manure/fertilizer. The media combinations were the mixtures of soil and sawdust in the ratio of 1:0, 2:1, 3:1, and 0:1, 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3 by volume. The fertilizer treatments included zero (0)

138

level of nutrient which was the control, four levels of cow dung which were ¼, 1 /3, ½, and 1 to ratio of growing medium by volume, and three levels of NPK 15:15:15 which were 10 ,12.5 and 15 g/pot equivalent to 120, 150 and 180 kg/ha. The growing media consisted of seven treatments which were assigned to the main plot while the cow dung and fertilizer constituted eight treatments assigned to the sub-plots. There were 56 treatments combinations which were replicated three times thus giving a total number of 168 pots. The growth media were sterilized before making mixtures. Data obtained were used to compute seedling vigour as follows: SFC SLC Seedling Vigor = + ... + DFC DLC where SFC= No. of normal seedlings at first count, DFC = Days to first count, SLC = No. of normal seedling at last count DLC= Days to last count

Data collected were analyzed statistically using the Generalized Linear Model (GLM) procedure of SAS (Statistical Analysis System V 6.12 1994). Means that were significantly different were separated using Least Significance Difference (LSD) at P = 0.05.

Results and Discussion The mean squares from the analysis of variance (ANOVA) for seedling vigour of tomato for first, second and third trials are presented in Table 1. The results show that there were significant interactions at P=0.05 between the growth media and the nutrients on the seedling vigour in the


Table 1: Mean squares from the analysis of variance for seedling vigour of tomato for first, second and third trials. Source of Variation Media (A) Error a Nutrients (B) AxB Error (b)

df

First Trial 6 53.32** 12 2.640 7 69.70**

Second Trial 58.95** 5.564 70.91**

Third Trial 52.55** 1.993 63.48**

42 8.626* 98 5.075

11.98** 4.428

9.755** 3.428

** = Highly significant at P=0.05 * = Significant at P=0.05

first trial. In the second and third trials, there were highly significant interactions at P=0.01 between the growth media and the nutrients on the seedling vigour. This shows that the behaviour of the media varied with fertilizer application. With changing types and levels of fertilizers applied, there were differences in seedling vigour recorded from the different media. Means from the interactions between the growth media and nutrients on seedlings vigour are presented in Table 2. The interactions between the NPK treatments (F6, F7 and F8) and the soil:saw dust media M2, M3 and M4 produced the best performance regarding seedling vigour compared to the interactions between the NPK treatments (F6, F7 and F8) with other growth media. Interactions of cow dung with other growth media recorded low vigour except its interaction with two parts of soil and one part of saw dust medium (M6) which gave a better result seedling vigour than the other media (Table 2). Generally, with increased level of sawdust, the seedling vigour declined with the lowest seedling vigour recorded

at M5 where no soil was mixed with the sawdust. Thereafter, with addition of soil in the media, the mean values of seedling vigour started to rise again. The results show that a combination of inorganic fertilizer with growth medium made up of a mixture of soil and sawdust in the ration of 1:1 and 1:2 (soil:sawdust by volume) could give better vigour than the individual soil:sawdust media and inorganic fertilizer application. Therefore incorporation small amount of NPK fertilizer in soil:sawdust media will enable farmers to raise tomato seedling within a reasonably shorter time than what they are presently doing.. The effects of growth media on seedling vigour of tomato as at 4 WAS in the first, second and third trials are presented in Figure 1. There were highly significant differences at P = 0.01 among the media on seedling vigour in all the trials. From the first trial, media M2 (soil + saw dust1:1), M3 (soil + saw dust1:2), M4 (soil + saw dust 1:3), M6 (soil + saw dust 2:1), and M7 (soil+ saw dust 3:1) had the highest seedling vigour which recorded 4.96, 5.83, 4.65, 4.51, and 4.94, respectively, although there were no significant differences among M2, M3, M4, M6, and M7. Media M1 (soil) recorded 3.45 vigour while M5 (saw dust) recorded 1.39, which was the lowest. In the second trial, M3 had the highest seedling vigour (6.09) although there were no significant differences between M2 (5.57) and M4 (5.06). Media M5 still had the lowest value of 1.39. In the third trial, M3, M7, M2, M4, and M6 recorded the highest seedling vigour with mean values of 5.53, 5.5, 5.43, 5.1 and 5.0, respectively while M1 and M5 had


140

Table 2: Mean interaction effects of the growth media and nutrients on seedling vigour of tomato as at 4 WAS in the first, second and third trials. M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 First trial Control (F1) 3.4 4.5 7.8 6.0 2.6 4.3 8.7 Cow dung ¼ (F2) 4.0 5.1 3.6 4.7 2.2 5.7 6.5 1 Cow dung /3 (F3) 3.2 2.0 3.6 3.2 2.2 3.2 4.3 Cow dung ½ (F4) 2.0 1.9 2.3 1.8 0.6 4.8 2.4 Cow dung 1 (F5) 0.1 3.1 1.0 0.6 1.1 0.8 1.8 NPK 120 kg/ha (F6) 4.0 8.0 11 5.2 1.0 6.3 4.7 NPK 150 kg/ha (F7) 6.0 9.0 8.4 7.2 0.0 6.2 7.8 NPK 180 kg/ha (F8) 4.0 6.2 9.5 8.5 1.4 4.7 3.4 Second trial Control (F1) 2.6 6.2 10 5.3 1.6 4.8 5.1 Cow dung ¼ (F2) 2.9 4.1 2.1 4.1 2.1 7.9 3.3 1 Cow dung /3 (F3) 4.6 2.3 3.0 5.3 2.3 3.3 3.8 Cow dung ½ (F4) 2.8 2.2 3.9 1.8 0.9 2.0 1.5 Cow dung 1 (F5) 1.5 1.3 2.4 1.4 0.2 0.9 1.7 NPK 120 kg/ha (F6) 5.2 6.7 11 5.4 0.3 6.1 7.7 NPK 150 kg/ha (F7) 3.0 11 8.6 9.4 0.8 2.6 6.6 NPK 180 kg/ha (F8) 5.0 11 7.6 7.8 3.0 3.8 4.0 Third trial Control (F1) 2.9 5.6 8.3 7.3 2.2 6.3 8.0 Cow dung ¼ (F2) 4.7 4.9 3.5 4.7 2.2 8.5 6.1 1 Cow dung /3 (F3) 3.6 1.7 2.9 3.2 2.7 4.1 4.9 Cow dung ½ (F4) 3.2 3.4 3.5 1.5 1.1 4.3 2.9 Cow dung 1 (F5) 1.0 2.2 1.5 1.3 0.4 1.4 2.2 NPK 120 kg/ha (F6) 3.5 6.7 10 7.0 0.5 6.5 8.1 NPK 150 kg/ha (F7) 3.9 11 7.8 6.9 0.6 3.2 7.8 NPK 180 kg/ha (F8) 3.3 8.0 6.4 9.0 3.5 5.0 4.0 M1 = 1 part of Soil + 0 part of Sawdust, M2 = 1 part of Soil + 1 part of Sawdust M3 = 1 part of Soil + 2 parts of Sawdust, M4 = 1 part of Soil + 3 parts of sawdust M5 = 0 part of Soil + 1 part of Sawdust, M6 = 2 parts of Soil + 1 part of sawdust M7 = 3 parts of Soil + 1 part of Sawdust

the lowest values of 3.27 and 1.65, respectively. The mean effects of nutrients on seedling vigour as at 4 WAS from the three trials are presented in Figure 2. The

result indicates that there were highly significant differences at P = 0.01 among the nutrients in all the trials. In the first trial, F7 (NPK 150 kg/ha), F8 (NPK 180 kg/ha), F6 (NPK 120 kg/ha), and F1


(control) gave the highest seedling vigour of 6.32, 5.52, 5.4, and 5.33 respectively, followed by F2 (cow dung 1/4) which recorded seedling vigour of 4.47 then F3 (cow dung 1/3) and F4 (cow dung 1/2) recorded the vigour of 3.1 and 2.2, accordingly. The lowest value of 1.2 was recorded from F5 (cow dung). From the second trial, F6, F8, F7, and F1 gave the highest seedling vigour with mean values of 6.08, 6.02, 5.94 and 5.07, respectively. The lowest values were obtained from F4 and F5 which had the vigour of 2.15 and 1.34, respectively. In third trial, F6, F7, F8, F1 and F2 gave the highest mean seedling vigour of 6.02, 5.9, 5.6, 5.82 and 4.92, respectively while F5 had the lowest seedling vigour of 1.43. These results show that high amount of plant nutrients are needed for higher seedling vigour. These high amounts were met by the NPK fertilizer which was applied in high amounts. Also, the rate of nutrient release from the inorganic fertilizer is faster than the rate at which nutrients are released from organic fertilizers, thus the treatments with the application of inorganic fertilizers did better. The seedlings that had inorganic fertilizers could do better since they did not suffer any nutritional stress as the nutrients were readily available. This was not the case with those seedlings growing in media with organic sources of nutrients where the rate of release is rather slow. The poor performance with increasing amount of cow dung might be due to higher microbial activities associated with cow dung which increased as the amount of cow dung was increased. The microbial activities coupled with fermentation might have given rise to

higher temperatures which were not favourable for the growth of the young seedlings. The control performed better than the treatments with cow dung because the activities of the microbes were lower in the control treatment and since there were no substrates for high fermentation, there was no way for increase temperature which could be detrimental to the seedlings. This shows that cow dung in high amounts may not be suitable for raising tomato seedlings. However, considering the cost of inorganic fertilizers, small amount of cow dung can be used in place of the inorganic fertilizers to achieve a similar result at a reduced cost. Alternatively, the small amount of cow dung can be mixed with small amount of inorganic fertilizer for better results. This is also cheaper and safer than the use of high amount of inorganic fertilizers. The lower seedling vigour recorded from soil medium that had only soil compared to other media that had a combination of soil and NPK fertilizer shows that the soil requires additional nutrient to increase the vigour of the seedlings. This might be the reason why media that had a combination of cow dung and soil had higher vigour than media with only soil. The cow dung provided additional nutrients to the soil. High amount of cow dung was however not favourable to the seedlings. Perhaps this might be due to the decomposition of the cow dung with the accompanied fermentation which produces heat and so makes the media too hot for survival and good growth of the seedlings. The significantly higher seedling vigour recorded from growth media that


1st trial

7

2nd trial

142

3rd trial

6

Vigor index

5 4 3 2 1 0 soil (M1)

soil+sawdust soil+sawdust soil+sawdust 1:1(M2) 1:2 (M3) 1:3 (M4)

sawdust (M5)

sawdust+soil sawdust+soil 1:2 (M6) 1:3 (M7)

Growth media Fig.1: Effects of growth media on seedling vigor of tomato as at 4 WAS in the first, secondand third trials

1st trial

7

2nd trial

3rd trial

6 Vigor index

5 4 3 2 1 0 control (F1)

cowdung 1/4 (F2)

cowdug 1/3 (F3)

cowdung 1/2 (F4)

cowdung 1 NPK (F5) 120kg/ha (F6)

Different nutrient levels

NPK 150kg/ha (F7)

NPK 180kg/ha (F8)

Fig. 2: Effects of nutrients on seedling vigor of tomatoas at 4 WAS in the first, second and third trials

had mixtures of soil with saw dust at the ratios of 1:2 (M3) and 1:1 (M3) might be

due to favourable environmental condition created in the media by the


presence of saw dust which agrees with the report of Roberto (2003). The soil alone as a medium is not the best for raising tomato seedlings. The saw dust must have facilitated higher water retention thereby making water available to the seedling at all times. The saw dust might have also provided nutrients and favourable temperature in the media thereby positively affecting seedling vigour (Copeland, 1976). High temperature and lower rainfall has been reported to be associated with lower seedling vigour (Peet, 2003). Onwueme and Sinha (1999) reported that the vigour assessment is therefore an indication of the health of the seedling and of the likelihood that they will yield well. However, sawdust alone was not good. This might be due to poor water drainage in the sawdust medium. Also in the sawdust medium, fermentation and microbial activities might have been higher thus raising the temperature of the medium beyond the tolerated level of the young seedlings.

Conclusion In conclusion, factors which tend to lower seedling vigour are small seed size, the presence of pathogens in the seed or in the soil, protracted storage of the seed, and an adverse environment during germination. Results from this study showed the potential of saw dust which can be incorporated in the nursery, particularly the soil–saw dust mixture should be 1:1, 1:2, 2:1, and 3:1 which had a better ability in producing vigourous seedlings.

References Adebayo, A. A. (1999), Climate I: Sunshine, Temperature, Evaporation and Relative Humidity in Adebayo, A. A. and Tukur, A. L. (eds) Adamawa State in Map Paraclete publishers, Yola Nigeria. Pp 35 Copeland, L.O. (1976), Principles of Seed Science and Technology. Burgess, USA. P 369 Havlin, J.L., J.D.Beaton, S.L.Tisdale, , and W.L.Nelson (2003), Soil Fertility and Fertilizers. 6th Edition. Pearson Education, India. Kowal, J. M. and D.T.Knabe (1972), An Agroclimatological Atlas of Northern Nigeria. Ahmadu Bello University press, Zaria, Nigeria. Onwueme, I.C. and T.D.Sinha (1999), Field Crop Production in Tropical Africa. Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation. England pp. 141-142. Peet, M. (2003), Sustainable Practice for Vegetable production in the South-North Carolina State University, NCSU. P342 Rodo, A. B. and J. M.Filho (2003), Onion Seed Vigour in Relation to Crop Growth and Yield. Horticulture Brasileira 21: pp. 220–226. SAS (1994), Statistical Analysis System SAS/Stat User’s Guide, Version 6, 4th ed. Vol. 2. SAS Institute Inc. Cary NC USA. Pp 1675 Taylor, A. G., P. S.Allen, M. K.Bennett, K. J.Bradford, J. S.Burris, and M. K.Misra (1998), Seed Enhancements. Seed Science Research. 8(2): pp. 245 -256. Turk, M. A., A.Rahman, M.Tawaha, and K. D.Lee (2004), Seed Germination and Seedling Growth of Three Lentil Cultivars under Moisture Stress. Asian Journal of Plant Sciences. 3(3): pp. 394– 397.