GARDEN SOIL

The proliferation of Urban Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is occurring due to the surging population, which has led to a demand for alternative crop cultivation methods. Consequently, there is a necessity to cultivate yams in containers as a means to enhance food security. Hence, a study was carried out to evaluate the effect of different combinations of garden soil and poultry manure potting media on the growth and yield of four cultivars of yam (Dioscorea spp.). The study was carried out in containers (cement bags) in a field plot in Benin City, Nigeria. The treatments included: (i) garden soil alone (1:0), (ii) one part garden soil and one part poultry manure (1:1), (iii) two parts garden soil and one part poultry manure (2:1), while four cultivars of yam including white yam (Ada Onitsha and Fakasa), water yam
and yellow yam were used. The experiment was a 3 × 4 factorial laid out as a Completely Randomized Design with three replicates. At nine weeks after planting, data was collected and recorded. At four months after planting harvest was done for only one cultivar (ada onitsha). The data collected was subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to test the significance of the treatment means using Genstat Statistical Package. The results indicated that there were no significant differences observed in the growth characteristics of the different potting media. However, significant cultivar differences were observed in number of vines, leaf area, number of leaves, stem girth, and petiole length. The potting media treatments showed significant differences in tuber length, tuber girth, and tuber yield per bag with 2:1 garden soil and poultry manure producing the highest tuber yield per bag(1.47kg) while (1:1) and (1:0) produced (0.50kg) and (0.47kg) respectively. Therefore, the combination of garden soil and poultry manure with a ratio of 2:1 would be suitable for cultivating yam in containers.

The proliferation of Urban Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is occurring due to the surging population, which has led to a demand for alternative crop cultivation methods. Consequently, there is a necessity to cultivate yams in containers as a means to enhance food security. Hence, a study was carried out to evaluate the effect of different combinations of garden soil and poultry manure potting media on the growth and yield of four cultivars of yam
(Dioscorea spp.). The study was carried out in containers (cement bags) in a field plot in Benin City, Nigeria. The treatments included: (i) garden soil alone (1:0), (ii) one part garden
soil and one part poultry manure (1:1), (iii) two parts garden soil and one part poultry manure (2:1), while four cultivars of yam including white yam (Ada Onitsha and Fakasa), water yam
and yellow yam were used. The experiment was a 3 × 4 factorial laid out as a Completely Randomized Design with three replicates. At nine weeks after planting, data was collected and recorded. At four months after planting harvest was done for only one cultivar (ada onitsha). The data collected was subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to test the significance of the treatment means using Genstat Statistical Package. The results indicated that there were no significant differences observed in the growth characteristics of the different potting media. However, significant cultivar differences were observed in number of vines, leaf area, number of leaves, stem girth, and petiole length. The potting media treatments showed significant differences in tuber length, tuber girth, and tuber yield per bag with 2:1 garden soil and poultry manure producing the highest tuber yield per bag(1.47kg) while (1:1) and (1:0) produced (0.50kg) and (0.47kg) respectively. Therefore, the combination of garden soil and poultry manure with a ratio of 2:1 would be suitable for cultivating yam in containers