Nursery media effects on tamarindus indica seedling establishment
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Date
2005
Authors
Kung'u, J.B.
Kihara, J.
Jaenicke, H.
Mugendi, D.N.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Soil Science Society of East Africa National Research Laboratories
Abstract
Trees are an important component of
farming systems and contribute to human
needs both directly through tree products
andindirectly through their influence in soil
fertility. Efforts by small-scale farmers to
increase trees of high value in their farms
are hampered by poor quality of seedlings
withlowsurvival and slow growth rate. One
reason for poor seedling development is
inappropriate chemical and physical
properties of the growing media used. This
studyattempted to find out the effect of these
chemical and physical properties of the
growing media used by farmers on the
seedlings of Tamarindus indica (L.) and
the appropriate levels for the species.
Therefore, samples of the growing media
usedin 6 on-farm tree nurseries in two agroecological
zones in Mount Kenya region -
main coffee and marginal coffee zones -
were collected and tested in an on-station
experiment at ICRAF headquarters, Nairobi,
Kenya. The media were analyzed for
chemical (nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium,
magnesium) and physical (pH, total pore
volume, aeration pore volume and water
holding capacity) properties. The root
diameter, seedling height and root and shoot
dry weights of seedlings raised in the media
were measured periodically. Data were
analyzed for variance (ANOVA) using
Genstat 4.1 release and treatments
compared using Students-Newman-Keuls
test.Aeration pore volume, total pore volume
and wet bulk density were the physical
properties that had greatest influence on
seedling quality parameters especially during
initial period of growth (up to 75 days).
Chemical properties, on the other hand,
affected seedling growth and quality
parameters at later stages of growth.
Important nutrients were observed to be
nitrogen, organic carbon, magnesium and
calcium. From the findings of this study,
farmers can curtail nursery period of
Tamarindus indica (L.) from 130 days to
as little as 75 days.
Description
Proceedings of the 21st Annual Confrence of the SSEA that was held in Eldoret Kenya from 1st-5th December 2003