EFFECTS OF VARYING LEVELS OF ORGANIC MANURE AND FERTILIZER APPLICATION ON THE GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF Mansonia altissima (A. Chev.) SEEDLINGS

Mansonia altissima is a good source of timber usually known for its natural durability and medicinal potentials. This study is undertaken to investigate the effects of varying levels of organic manure and fertilizer application on the growth performance of Mansonia altissima seedlings. The organic manure used for this experiment is poultry manure, while the fertilizer application used is urea. The two treatments used are poultry manure and urea, at the levels of 0g (control), 0.1g, 0.3g, 0.5g, and 1g. Each of the levels for both poultry manure and urea was replicated 10 times. Result shows that poultry manure and urea applied improved the growth characteristics but varied significantly among the treatments. For poultry manure, leaf number, plant height and collar diameter, the highest mean value obtained are 11.20g, 22.76g and 10.04g when applied at 1g while 0.1g has the lowest value in all the parameters checked. The same parameters were also checked for urea and 1g performed best with the mean value of 10.80g, 22.08g and 9.32g. The study indicated that Mansonia altissima seedling responded well to the treatments applied and also suggest that the application of 1g of poultry manure and urea is the best for the optimum growth of Mansonia altissima