Response of Ginger (Zinibar officinale) to Organic and Inorganic

Fertilizer in Rain Forest Zone

NMOR E.I.

Department of Agricultural Technology

Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro, Delta State, Nigeria.

E-mail: nmoredith@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

This research was carried out in school of Agriculture Teaching Farm in Delta State Polytechnic Ozoro in the year 2013. Due to the fact that gingers are not commonly cultivated in southern Nigeria, the need to evaluate the response of ginger to the application of organic and inorganic fertilizer becomes necessary. Fifty-four (54) rhizomes of ginger collected from the local market were planted in Randomized Complete Block Design replicated three times. Eighteen (18) were treated with organic fertilizer, another eighteen (18) were treated with inorganic fertilizer while the remaining eighteen served as control. Parameters measured are number of leaves, plant height and leaf area. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance. The result shows that ginger treated with organic manure had more number of leaves of 5.8, 7.6, 14.7 and 26.1 as against 5.9, 5.4, 12.2, 21.9, 1.3, 1.5, 1.5 and 12.0 for inorganic fertilizer and control respectively. Table 3 also shows that ginger treated with organic manure had better plant height of 11.5, 16.0, 23.8 and 46.4 as against 10.5, 15.0, 21.7 and 44.8 for ginger treated with inorganic fertilizer. For the leaf area, it also followed the same trend of ginger treated with organic manure having better leaf area of 149, 167 and 172 as against 154, 182 and 195 for those ginger treated with inorganic fertilizer. However, there was significant difference between the performance of ginger treated with organic manure and those treated with inorganic manure in terms of number of leaves, plant height and leaf area at (P>0.05). Hence, treating ginger with organic manure is recommended for ginger farmer so as to boost yield.