Effects of Inorganic Fertilizer Application on Early Growth of Vitellaria paradoxa C. F. Gaertn

Declining soil fertility is a main reason for the slow growth in food production in Africa. However, the practices of incorporating fertilizers could potentially improve soil fertility and productivity. This experiment was carried out to determine the efficacy of inorganic fertilizer on the early growth performance of Vitellaria paradoxa under a greenhouse condition set up at the Department of Forestry Technology, Federal College of Forestry Ibadan, located within the Government Reserve Area (GRA) Jericho Ibadan. The treatments included two fertilizer types, (Urea and NPK 15:15:15) at different concentration levels which were; Urea at three (3) levels; 50 mg kg1, 100 mg kg1and 150 mg kg1: NPK (15:15:15) at three levels; 50 mg kg1, 100 mg kg1 and 150 mg kg1, combination of Urea + NPK and Control (no application). The results showed that application of inorganic fertilizer at any rate produced higher growth in plant height and collar diameter than the control experiment. Application of different rates of fertilizer on leaf production was comparable with the control experiment. Though, there was no appreciable variation in all fertilizer rates, the highest value was obtained with the combination of NPK and urea at 150/100 mg kg1 for plant height, leaf production and leaf area while the application of NPK/Urea: 150/150 mg kg1 produced the highest collar diameter. From this study, nutrient supply from NPK and Urea could help enhance the growth performance of Vitellaria paradoxa seedlings and help improve the mass propagation of target species in the nursery. Further studies are recommended to validate the optimum fertilizer requirements of the plant species.