Effect of Chemical and Organic Fertilizers on Yield and Yield Components of Two Roselle ( HibscussabdariffaL) Cultivars

Abstract

Afield experiment was conducted for two consecutive summer seasons namely 2011 and 2012 at the Demonstration Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Omdurman Islamic University (Fitaihab) to investigate the effect of chemical and organic fertilizers on yield and yield components of two roselle ( Hibscussabdariffa L.) varieties. The experiment was carried out using split- plot design with four replications. The experiment involved two varieties and and six fertilizer treatments. The two varieties were Bulk (local variety) and Omshiback (improved variety) (designated as V1 and V2, respectively) and laid out in the main plots. The fertilizer treatments were control (chick treatment), 40 kg N/ha, 80 kg N/ha, 40 KgN + 40 kg P2O5/fed, three tons cattle manure /fed (as compost) and two tons chicken manure/fed (as compost) Yield and yield components for calyces include number of fruits ∕plant, calyx dry weight/plant, dry calyx yield (kg∕ fed), whereas for seeds (only for the 2nd season) involve number of seeds ∕capsule, 1000-seed weight, seed yield∕ plant and seed yield (kg ∕ fed). The findings of the study indicated that the two varieties were significantly different only in calyx dry weight/plant in the 1st season, when, V1 significantly exceeded V2. In general, the performance of V1 regarding components of calyx yield in both season was better than V2, whereas the reverse was true for components of seed yield. As for fertilizer treatments, the findings showed that all calyces components studied were not significantly affected by application of fertilizers, except number of fruits/plant in the 1st season, when both F1 and F2 treatments reported a significantly higher mean of this parameter than the other fertilizer treatments. Meanwhile, seed yield and seed components were not significantly affected by application of fertilizers, but in most cases F4 reported the insignificantly higher mean as compared to the other treatments.