摘要
Sequel to complaints by cashew farmers on poor establishment rate of cashew seedlings on rehabilitated moribund cashew plantations in south western Nigeria, a fertilizer trial involving the use of organic materials （cow-dung, poultry droppings, cocoa and kola pod husks） compared to NPK and control （no fertilizer） treatments was conducted on the growth performance of cashew seedlings at Ibadan, Nigeria. The fertilizers were applied to supply 15 g N seedlingl in 3 replications. Cashew seedling growth parameters and dry matter yield were determined. Fertilizers resulted to consistently general higher plant height, girth, number of leaves and leaf area compared to NPK and control. The differences in the mean values were however not significantly different for girth but it was significant （P 〈 0.5） for plant height, number of leaves and leaf area, while there was no particular regular trend for plant number of branches. Plant root lengths were significantly higher using the organic fertilizers than NPK and control. Similar trend was obtained in the dry weight values for plant leaf, stem, root and total dry matter yield. There was however no consistent significant effect on NPK usage over control for all the parameters. It was therefore deduced that optimal growth performance and better establishment of cashew seedlings could be obtained with the use of organic fertilizers rather than inorganic fertilizer. The use of cocoa pod husk followed by cow-dung and poultry droppings were outstanding in better growth and dry matter yield performance of cashew seedlings and were advised for this purpose.
