Influence of organic liquid fertilizers on growth and yield of abelmoschus esculentus, raphanus sativus and amaranthus spp in container gardening

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.