Impact of Organic Liquid Fertlizers on Growth and Yield of Abelmoschus esculentus, Raphanus sativus and Amaranthus spp in Container Gardening

Abstract

The benefaction of container gardening on food security is its main strength while it fulfils an essential fraction of nutritional requirements. The effect of five organic liquid fertilizers prepared using banana waste, weeds (mixing equal proportions of Lantana camara, Mimosa invisa and Mikania micrantha by weight), Gliricidia leaves, fish waste and cow dung together with inorganic liquid fertilizer (Albert’s solution) was tested. Three separate experiments were conducted to evaluate the treatment effect for Abelmoschus esculentus, Raphanus sativus and Amaranthus spp. arranged as randomized complete block designs with six replicates. The average plant height, stem girth, number of leaves and pods per plant, pod girth and length and fresh weight of the pods were significantly different between treatments for Abelmoschus esculentus. The highest plant height, stem girth, number of leaves and pod length were recorded when treating plants with Albert’s solution. However, the number of pods per plant and pod girth was not significantly different between the Albert’s solution, banana liquid fertilizer and weeds liquid fertilizer. In Raphanus sativus, the average plant height, fresh weight of leaves, diameter, length and weight of the tuberous root were significantly influenced by the treatment. The greater diameter and the length of the tuberous root were observed when treating plants with Albert’s solution and cow dung liquid fertilizer while the lowest values were recorded in weed and Gliricidia leaves liquid fertilizers. Cow dung liquid fertilizer treated Raphanus sativus plants recorded the highest tuber fresh weight while it was not significantly different from Albert’s solution. The lowest tuber weight was observed when treating plants with weeds and Gliricidia liquid fertilizers. The average plant height, stem girth, number of leaves, leaf length, leaf width and root length were significantly different among treatments (P < 0.01) for Amaranthus spp. However, the volume of the roots per plant was not significantly different among treatments. When treating plants with Albert’s solution, banana and fish liquid fertilizers the plant height was not significantly different from each other. The economically important characteristics of the Amaranthus spp such as the number of leaves per plant, leaf length and leaf width were not significantly different among Albert’s solution, banana, weed and fish liquid fertilizers. According to the results of the present study, it could be suggested that banana and weeds liquid fertilizer could be used to achive good yield of Abelmoschus esculentus same as Albert’s solution. Cow dung liquid fertilizer and Albert’s solution could be effective for Raphanus sativus while Albert’s coution could be replaced by banana, weed and fish liquid fertilizers for high yield of Amaranthus spp.