Growth of Cocoa Seedlings as Affected by Different Growth Media and Different Polybag Sizes

ABSTRACT

A study was conducted to determine the effects of different growth media and different poly bag sizes on the growth of cocoa seedlings in the nursery. The experimental design was split plot design with three replicates. The treatments were soil (S), carbonated rice husk (CRH), cocoa pod husk (CPH), cocopeat (CP) , sawdust (SD), S+CRH, S+CPH, S+CP, S+SD, CRH+CPH, CRH+CP, CRH+SD, CPH+CP, CPH+SD, CP+SD and the three polytene bag sizes were 12.5 cm x 18.5 cm (small), 10.0 cm x 35.0 cm (medium) and 17.3 cm x 23.3 cm (large). For the media mixes, the combination by volume used was 1:1. Number of leaves, plant height, girth, leaf area and total dry matter per plant were used for determining the most suitable media and polybag size. The results showed significant differences (p