Effect of organic fertilizers on growth performance of <i>Mansonia altissima</i> A. Chev. seedlings

Mansonia altissima A. Chev plays an important role in timber industry but is a very slow growing species at seedling stage. The study, therefore, investigated the influence of different organic fertilizers on the growth potentials of M. altissima with a view to producing seedlings of high vigour for the establishment of healthy plantation. Two weeks old uniform seedlings of M. altissima were transplanted into the polythene pots containing topsoil amended with different organic manures. There were four (4) treatments {Topsoil + Goat droppings (T1); Topsoil + Poultry droppings (T2); Topsoil + Pig droppings (T3) and Topsoil alone (control) (T4)}, replicated five times. The experimental design was a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Data on shoot heights (cm), collar diameters (mm), leaf area (cm2) and leaf production were collected weekly and analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). There were significant differences (p<0.05) among the treatments in shoot heights, leaf production and leaf area. But there was no significant difference in collar diameter (p>0.05). T1 had highest mean shoot height (9.9±1.35cm), Leaf production (2.0±0.29) and Leaf area (29.17±5.60 cm2) while the least leaf production (1.89+0.24) was observed in the control treatment. Application of different organic fertilizers had significant effects on the growth performance of Mansonia altissima seedlings within period of study with the best performance in the seedlings raised with T1.