RESPONSE OF FLUTED PUMPKIN (Telfairia occidentalis Hook F.) TO SEED ORIENTATION AND FERTILIZER APPLICATION

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during the 2022/2023 dry cropping season of January at the Horticultural Unit of the Teaching and Research Farm of the Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Benin City. The aim of the experiment was to evaluate the response of fluted pumpkin to different seed orientation and fertilizer application. The field experiment was laid as 3x4 factorial combinations in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates. The treatments were made up of three seed orientation (F- Seeds sown flat, S- Micropyle slanted at 45⁰, U- Micropyle pointing upwards) and four different rates of fertilizer application (F1-0 kg/ha of fertilizer (Control)), F2- 20 t/ha of Poultry manure, F3- 400 kg/ha of NPK 15:15:15, F4- 10 t/ha of Poultry manure + 200 kg/ha of NPK 15:15:15). The parameters measured per plant were days to emergence, plant height (cm), number of tendrils, number of leaves, number of branches, leaf area (cm²) and stem diameter (cm) while cumulative harvest weight (g) and herbage yield (t/ha) were measured  plot. From the results obtained, seed orientation had significant effect on some vegetative characters of fluted pumpkin. Upward seed orientation recorded the earliest days to emergence (11.04) and had the highest stem diameter and leaf area (0.51 cm and 99.72 cm²) respectively. Plants that received 10 t/ha of poultry manure + 200 kg/ha of NPK 15:15:15 produced the highest herbage yield (10.11 t/ha). Therefore, it is recommended that fluted pumpkin should be sown with the upward seed orientation using 10 t/ha of poultry manure + 200 kg/ha of NPK 15:15:15 for higher herbage yield.