Effect of Tillage on the Yield of Bitter Leaf (Vernonia amydalina) in Southern Nigeria
NMOR E.I. AND ODEH O.H.
Department of Agricultural Technology, School of Agriculture,
Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro.
Email: edithnmor@yahoo.com
Abstract
This research was carried out in School of Agriculture teaching
farm in Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro between June – October
- Most farmers do not carry out tillage before planting, the
need therefore to evaluate the effect of tillage on the growth
performance of bitter leaf. Bitter leaf stems collected from Oleh
Market, a nearby village were planted in a Complete Randomized
Block Design (CRBD) with three (3) replications. Some stems were
planted on ridges while others were planted on flat land. Parameters
measured are number of leaves, number of branches and plant
height. Data collected were subjected to student T-test. The result
revealed that bitter leaf planted on ridges had more number of
leaves of 24.67. 63.17, 77.67, and 120.0 as against those planted on
flat land of 19.33, 55.67 and 95.67cm. Bitter leaf planted on ridges
had better number of branches of 8.3, 8.3, 13.67 and 13.67cm than
those planted on flat land of 5.6, 10.33 and 10.33cm. The plant
height followed the same trend of those planted on flat land having
13.0, 19.33, 25.83 and 44.73cm as against 19.33, 30.0, 43.83 and
63.27cm. There was significant difference between the
performance of bitter leaf planted on ridges with those planted on
flat land in terms of; number of leaves, number of branches and
plant height at (P>0.05). Hence, planting on ridges is recommended to
farmers to boost the growth performance of bitter leaf.