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<p>The medium from which seedlings are transplanted influences seedling growth and survival on the field. The objective of the experiment was to compare how growing media affect the growth and survival of cocoa seedlings under field conditions. The seedlings were raised in both soil and soilless media and were transplanted on the field in June, when they were six months old. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design with three different growing media: 1. top soil, 2. sawdust + poultry manure + rice husk biochar (70%:25%:5%), and 3. sawdust + poultry manure + municipal solid waste compost (50%:35%:15%). The cocoa seedlings were transplanted at a spacing of 3 m × 3 m at 12 plants per plot and each plot size measured 45 m × 45 m. Data were collected on plant height, leaf number, stem girth, leaf chlorophyll content, percentage of plants that shed their leaves, and percentage of survival. Results indicated that seedling survival at the onset and end of the dry season was significantly (P &lt; 0.05) higher for seedlings transplanted from soilless media compared to those from the top soil treatment. Irrigation will be necessary to maintain high seedling survival when seedlings are transplanted from the top soil for a well-established plantation.</p>
</abstract>

The medium from which seedlings are transplanted influences seedling growth and survival on the field. The objective of the experiment was to compare how growing media affect the growth and survival of cocoa seedlings under field conditions. The seedlings were raised in both soil and soilless media and were transplanted on the field in June, when they were six months old. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design with three different growing media: 1. top soil, 2. sawdust + poultry manure + rice husk biochar (70%:25%:5%), and 3. sawdust + poultry manure + municipal solid waste compost (50%:35%:15%). The cocoa seedlings were transplanted at a spacing of 3 m × 3 m at 12 plants per plot and each plot size measured 45 m × 45 m. Data were collected on plant height, leaf number, stem girth, leaf chlorophyll content, percentage of plants that shed their leaves, and percentage of survival. Results indicated that seedling survival at the onset and end of the dry season was significantly (P < 0.05) higher for seedlings transplanted from soilless media compared to those from the top soil treatment. Irrigation will be necessary to maintain high seedling survival when seedlings are transplanted from the top soil for a well-established plantation.

Field performance and survival of cocoa seedlings raised in different growing media

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Agriculture and Environment

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The medium from which seedlings are transplanted influences seedling growth and survival on the field. The objective of the experiment was to compare how...

Field performance and survival of cocoa seedlings raised in different growing media

Published Online: Jan 18, 2022

Page range: 100 - 112

Received: Jul 30, 2021

Accepted: Sep 22, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ausae-2021-0009

Keywords
cocoa, growing media, transplanting, survival

© 2021 M. M. Akpalu et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Field performance and survival of cocoa seedlings raised in different growing media

Published Online: Jan 18, 2022

Page range: 100 - 112

Received: Jul 30, 2021

Accepted: Sep 22, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ausae-2021-0009

Keywordscocoa, growing media, transplanting, survival

© 2021 M. M. Akpalu et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
cocoa, growing media, transplanting, survival