Volga Region Farmland (Jun 2021)

PRODUCTIVITY RESPONSE OF OKRA (ABELMOSCHUS ESCULENTUS) TO ORGANIC AND INORGANIC NUTRITION AT DIFFERENT SPACING

  • E.K. Yeboah,
  • K.G. Santo,
  • D. AFreh-Ntiamoah,
  • E. Ackah

DOI
https://doi.org/10.26177/VRF.2021.10.2.004
Journal volume & issue
no. 2
pp. 22 – 35

Abstract

Read online

The need to continually update farmers’ knowledge on cropping practices such as crop fertilization for high crop performance due to intensive cultivation prompted a study to evaluate the effects of organic and inorganic fertilizer on the growth, yield and post-harvest quality of okra planted at different spacings. Two experiments were conducted in the 2019 major season from April to June and minor season from August to December at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), Department of Agriculture Demonstration Farm at Berekum Senior High School in the Berekum Municipality in the Bono Region of Ghana. The experiments were a 2*6 factorial, laid in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with plant spacing and fertilizer application as the treatment factors with 2 and 6 levels respectively, resulting in 12 treatment combinations. Applied fertilizer treatments were 10 t/ha Poultry manure (PM), 10 t/ha Cattle manure (CM), 220 kg/ha NPK 15-15-15, 5 t/ha CM + 110 kg/ha NPK 15-15-15 and 5 t/ha PM + 110 kg/ha NPK 15-15-15 while plants were being spaced at 60 cm x 35 cm and 50 cm x 42 cm. Results from the experiments revealed no significant effect of plant spacing on the growth and yield of okra, except number of leaves per plant and fruit girth. Plant spacing at 50 cm x 42 cm mostly enhanced the growth and yield of okra in both seasons. Fertilizer application significantly improved vegetative growth and yield of okra except in the minor season where number of seeds per fruit was not significantly affected. Mineral-organic fertilizer proved superior in increasing growth and yield of okra throughout the study. Combined application of cattle manure and NPK 15-15-15 fertilizer resulted in the highest fresh fruit yield of 863.44 kg/ha and 894.6 kg/ha in the major and minor seasons of 2019, respectively. The study therefore recommends the combination of cattle dung as an organic manure with NPK fertilizer in appropriate levels and wider intra row spacing for okra production.

Keywords