Evaluation of different soil amendments on growth and yield of three accessions of taro (Colocasia Esculenta).
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Date
November, 2016
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Abstract
A field study was carried out at CSIR-Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute at Bunso (lat. 06⁰ 46’ N, long. 01⁰ 01’ W, 149m above sea level) in the East-Akim District of the Eastern Region to evaluate different soil amendments on growth and yield of three accessions of taro (Colocasia esculenta). It was a 3×4 factorial experiment and treatments were laid in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The two factors studied were soil amendments and taro accessions. The fertilizer rates were 0, 60 kg NPK/ha, 4 t poultry manure/ha and combined application of 40 kg NPK/ha + 2 t poultry manure/ha. The three taro accessions studied were KA/035, BL/SM/116 and CE/MAL/032. There were variations in the vegetative and growth parameters, yield and yield components and the biochemical composition of the taro accessions. KA/035 was the least in all the vegetative growth parameters, yield and yield components except in plant height and number of suckers. Accessions CE/MAL/032 and BL/SM/116 were statistically the same in all the vegetative growth parameters, yield and yield components except in the number of leaves where BL/SM/116 was significantly higher than CE/MAL/32. Differences in the composition among the accessions were only observed in accession KA/035 in percentage moisture and calcium, while all the other elements were insignificant. Soil amendments did not significantly (P > 0.05) affect number of leaves, number of suckers and disease count but influenced plant height, leaf length and width, cormel weight, number and yield, corm length, diameter yield and total yield. Application of 4 t poultry manure per hectare resulted in greater plant height, cormel weight, number and yield. Generally N source did not significantly affect the composition of the accessions. The results indicated that N application is beneficial to the growth and yield of taro, without having any adverse effects on the biochemical composition of the corms. It is recommended that further studies be done with higher rates of soil amendments, as well as with different soil amendments in an attempt to enhance production and profit margin of farmers. Also, other studies can look at several organic and inorganic fertilizer combinations.
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, in partial fulfilment of the requirement for a Master of Philosophy (Agronomy) degree.