Effects of Green Biomass of Tithonia (Tithonia diversifolia) on the Growth of Cocoa Seedlings

Abstract

A screen house experiment was conducted in the University of Ibadan. The experimental design was a completely randomized design with 3 factors, soil at 2 levels, tithonia application at 3 levels and mycorrhiza application at 2 levels. The experiment was replicated 3 times making a total of 12 treatment combinations and 36 experimental units. Data analysis was done using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The soils used for the experiment were deficient in the major nutrient elements.  In the topsoil the application of mycorrhiza with tithonia enhanced the performance of cocoa seedlings in the second experiment. Likewise, in the subsoil the cocoa seedlings performed better in terms of number of leaves and plant height in the second experiment which implies an enhanced performance due to the residual effect of the applied tithonia. Application of 5 t/ha tithonia with mycorrhiza to the soils gave the best performance in both the first and second experiment and would therefore be beneficial in raising cocoa seedlings.