ABSTRACT

Okra (Abelmoschusesculentus(L).Moench) is one of the most important vegetable crops in both tropical and subtropical countries of the world; it is a vegetable crop which has both economical and nutritional value to both farmers and the entire population. Due to the rapid decline of soil nutrients and unstable soil microbial population farmers have experienced low productivity of the growth and yield of okra hence the use of organic and inorganic manure has being advocated. It was on this basis that the trials were carried out in the research field of Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria, Iyanomo and Benson Idahosa University, Okha campus. This was done in the two cropping season (rainy and dry) of 2017/2018 respectively. This study was done to investigate the influence of organic and inorganic fertilizers on the growth and yield of two cultivars of okra in the agro ecological zone of southern Nigeria. The trial was a 2 x 5 factorial experiment arranged in a Randomised Complete Block Design {RCBD}. The treatments comprise of an inorganic and organic fertilizers which were; 50kg/ha NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer, 20,000L/ha rubber effluent, 50tonnes/ha poultry manure, treatment combinations of; 50kg/ha NPK 15: 15: 15 x 20,000L/ha Rubber Effluent and a control which gave rise to 5 treatments replicated three times. Two varieties; V-3 dwarf okra (Variety 1) and Clemson spineless (Variety 2) of okra were investigated. The results showed that in the morphological growth parameters of both varieties of Okra in the two locations showed same positive trend with improved growth and yield responses to the treatment application when compared to the control. The organic fertilizer used in this trial performed better in terms of the improvements of growth and yield parameters of the two varieties of Okra than the inorganic fertilizer. However, on the basis of this study, poultry manure treatment showed a more effective growth and yield response in both Okra varieties investigated while Clemson spineless responded better to the treatment applications than V-3dwarf Okra in the growth rate parameters and yield. Therefore, the use of poultry manure and other organic based treatments to enhance growth and development for better yield in Okra cultivars is hereby recommended.