Abstract:
Use of liquid organic fertilizers is popular among
container gardeners in urban areas. The impact of five organic
liquid fertilizers (banana waste, weeds, Gliricidia leaves, fish waste,
and cow dung) Albert’s solution (control) on growth and yield of
three test crops of Abelmoschus esculentus, Raphanus sativus and
Amaranthusspp were studied in the present study. Three separate
experiments were laid out as randomized complete block designs
with six replicates. The effect of treatments on plant growth and
yield of Abelmoschus esculentus was significant. Treatment 1, 2 and
3 recorded the greatest fresh weight of pods in okra (p < 0.0001).
Treatments used in the study significantly influenced the average
plant height, fresh weight of leaves, diameter, length and weight of
the tuberous root of Raphanus sativus. Albert’s solution and cow
dung liquid fertilizer treated plants produced the tuberous roots with
the greatest diameter (p < 0.0001) and length (P=0.015) while the
plants that received Gliricidia leaves liquid fertilizers recorded the
least values. Furthermore, the highest and lowest tuberous root fresh
was reported by cow dung liquid fertilizer and Gliricidia leaves
liquid fertilizer, respectively. There was a significant difference
between treatments for the average plant height (p < 0.0001),
number of leaves (p =0.0006), leaf length (p =0.03), leaf width
(p < 0.0001), stem girth (p < 0.0001) and root length (p =0.0001)
of Amaranthus spp. Nevertheless, the volume of the roots per plant
was not significantly different among treatments. As per the results
of the present study, it could be concluded that the banana and
weeds liquid fertilizer could be used as same as Albert’s solution for
Abelmoschus esculentus while cow dung liquid fertilizer influenced
the growth and yield of Raphanus sativus in container gardening.
Vegetative growth and economic yield of Amaranthus spp. can be
achieved by applying Albert’s solution, banana, weed and fish liquid
fertilizers. Selected types of organic liquid fertilizers could be used
to replace Albert’s solution for short-term vegetable crops. However,
the performance of the liquid fertilizer might be affected by the size,
shape and colour of the containers used for gardening as well as
the quality of the potting mixture.
