Dr Kwa Moïse, Fonbah Cletus
Technical team associated in the study
Nang Nathan D – Ambeh Paul – Sellè Nkotti – Mbogning Martin – Fotio Boniface – Ndong Joseph – Ebala Léopold
CARBAP – BP 832 – Douala Cameroon
Excerpts:
3-2-2 Plants vegetative potential
The vegetative potential developed by the plants, i.e. the volume of plant biomass developed above ground (see leaves and pseudo stem), is one particularly discriminating parameters of plants considered in this test with azomite (Fig. 5). Highly significant differences were observed (see photos attached) between the treatments. Azomite + NPK treatment developed the highest (365% increase over control) volume of biomass, followed by the reference NPK (241% increase compared to control), then the treatment having only azomite (51% increase over control). This is an interesting comparative advantage for plants receiving azomite as this will lead to a better performance of these plants after their transfer to the field and a possible early flowering. These assumptions will be verified during the implementation of the field component after this nursery trial.
Figure 5: Variation of the amount of biomass produced by the plants as a function of treatment.
3-2-3 Plant weight
The weight considered is that of the whole plant (pseudo-stem, leaves and roots). It showed significant differences between the treatments. The weight of plants in T4 treatment (combination azomite + NPK) was higher than the NPK reference, the latter being followed by that of azomite only. These three treatments respectively represented weight gains of 138%, 124% and 20% compared to the control.
Examination of the root system showed that the weight of observed plants was influenced both
Conclusion
This work had as principal objective the evaluation of the bio-efficacy of Azomite performance on plantain plantlets in the nursery. After the analysis of the preliminary results of this new product, it appears to have very interesting effects on plantain plantlets in the nursery, notably on:
– The growth in the height of the plantlets with at least 20% increase in the height, with respect to the control. This increase can substantially double the height of the plant when azomite is associated with a mineral fertilizer (NPK);
-The increase in the diameter of the plantlets (at least 11%) with the possibility of achieving a 40% increase in diameter when azomite is associated with NPK;
-The number of leaves emitted with at least 8% increase. The rate can reach 15% in case of addition of a mineral fertilizer (NPK);
-Root-emission, mainly when azomite is associated with NPK, with the possibility of increasing the number of roots by nearly 73%.
Besides the aspects mentioned above, it is interesting to note that azomite alone can contribute to an increase in biomass in the nursery from at least 50% to more than 7 times when combined with a mineral fertilizers. It is the same for plant weight which increased by 20% with azomite alone, and in case of a combination with mineral fertilizer (NPK), the growth proportion remains the same as for biomass (that is relatively 7 times).
Because of these observations, we recommend the use of azomite in the nursery for plantain plantlets at a dose of 5g/sachet containing a plant in combination with a mineral fertilizer NPK, notably 20-10-10 used in this experiment. Azomite should be incorporated into the upper half of the substrate before transplanting the plantlets. Mineral fertilizer should be applied at a dose of 1g/plant from the 8th day after transplanting and then after every two weeks. Subsequent applications of azomite should follow the same sequence.
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