Effects of Growth Media on Germination and Early Growth of Afzelia africana sm ex pers

Abstract

The study investigated the effects of growth media on germination and early growth of A. africana in order to enhance its plantation development. The experiment was divided into two; experiment 1 and 2. Experiment 1 investigates the germination response while experiment 2 investigates the early growth response of Afzelia africana to different growth media. Both experiments were arranged in a completely Randomized Design (CRD). The growth media used for the study were Topsoil (control), sawdust, fine sand, riversand and the mixture. Fifty seeds were sown into each growing medium and experiment was monitored for 8 weeks. Data were collected on germination and early seedling growth parameters. Analysis of variance was used to analyze the data collected.  Means separation were carried out using the Duncan’s Multiple Range Test. The result revealed that germination percentage was significant at 5% level of probability. The highest germination percentage was recorded in topsoil (68%) while the least was recorded in sawdust (40%). There was significant difference at 5% level of probability on seedling performance. The highest mean height was recorded in mixture (14.71 cm) and fine sand recording the lowest (9.53 cm). The highest collar diameter growth was recorded in sawdust (0.63 cm) and the least (0.42 cm) was in fine sand. The highest stem diameter was recorded for sawdust (0.49 cm), and the mixture recording the lowest (0.35 cm). The highest mean for leaf length was recorded in river sand which had 6.93cm, while topsoil and sawdust recorded the least mean (5.40 cm.). Leaf production in A. africana was not significant between the treatments. The study has shown that the germination percentage of A. africana improved significantly with growing media especially topsoil. The use of sawdust and topsoil as growing media for small and large scale propagation of the species can be adopted.