Lack of suitable variety as well as appropriate growth medium constitutes major problems to flower production. It is against this backdrop that a pot experiment was carried out in the Department of Crop and Soil Science Demonstration Plot, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria between April and May, 2013 to determine the growth responses of two varieties of Heliconia flowers to selected growth media. The experiment comprised of two Heliconia varieties (Jade and Golden Torch) and six (6) growth media namely, topsoil (control), river sand, coconut husk, topsoil + river sand (), topsoil + coconut husk () and river sand + coconut husk (). The experiment was in a 2×6 factorial arrangement fitted into a completely randomized design replicated thrice. Results showed that topsoil + coconut husk () performed best at 4WAP by producing the highest stem height (8.7 cm), stem girth (2.9 cm) number of leaves (3.3), leaf area (41.5 cm 2 ) and longest root length (14.5) and more roots number (4.1) and this was followed by river sandcoconut husk (11) while the sole river sand gave the lowest vegetative traits. There was no significant difference on the vegetative parameters of the two varieties of Heliconia flowers and also on interaction. According to this experiment, topsoil + coconut husk () growth media is the better one for the growth of these Heliconia two varieties of flowers in the area of study. However, it needs more study on soil to recommend for farmers and the continual use of top soil as a candidate growth medium need to be discouraged because it is non-renewable hence, in the absence of top soil, river sand in combination with coconut husk () could serve as next available alternative.
This project was carried out to investigate the allelopathic effect of Commelina benghalensis on the performance of Solanum macrocarpon. The experiment was carried out at Federal College of Agriculture, Moor Plantation, Ibadan (Latitude 7 o 22'N, Longitude 3 o 05'E). The whole plants of Commelina benghalensis was uprooted and washed in clear water, later airdried to a constant weight and grinded to powdery form. The treatments were arranged in different dosages; 0 g (control), 20 g, 40 g, 60 g, 80 g and 100 g. The powdery Commelina benghalensis was broadcasted on each plot size 1 m by 1 m, mixed thoroughly and left for 2 days before the seeds of Solanum macrocarpon were planted, the experiments were laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD). All data collected were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and significant treatment means were separated using Duncan multiple range test (DMRT) at 5% level of significance. Three plants were tagged to collect the following data: plant height (cm), stem girth (cm), number of leaves and yield (tons/ha). The results at 8 WAT showed that Solanum macrocarpon treated with 40 g of Commelina benghalensis had highest number of leaves (18.60) and yield (8.53 tons/ha). It can therefore be recommended that 40 g of powder Commelina benghalensis should be applied on Solanum macrocarpon plants to obtain good and better yield.
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