Effect of Watering Regime and Fertilizer Application on Raphia Hookeri Palm Seedling.

The growth, dry matter yield and macro nutrient uptake of R. hookeri palm seedling under three levels of watering (Zero watering (ZW), watering three times a week (TW) and watering everyday (DW)) at 1.2 litres of water / seedling and four levels of NPKMg 12-12-17-2 (0g (R1), 14g (R2), 28g (R3)  and 42g (R4)) fertilizer per seedling were studied in the nursery over a period of 15 months. There were 12 treatments. The experiment was a 3 x 4 factorial fitted into Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD), replicated four times. Watering regime and fertilizer interaction had significant (P <0.05) effects on R. hookeri palm height, base circumference (girth), leaf area, dry matter yield, percentage of transplantable seedling and macro nutrient uptake. The effect of fertilizer on seedling growth, dry matter, percentage transplantable seedling and macro nutrient uptake depended on the watering regime. Seedling growth at TW watering increased dry matter and percentage transplantable seedling by 55 % over the control. Also TW watering level and DW significantly lead to higher soil macro-nutrient uptake of N, P, K, Mg and Ca than where there was no moisture. These confirmed the findings that waterlogging soils increased the availability and uptake of both native and added soil nutrients especially nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers. The significant effect of watering on soil nutrient uptake resulted in higher dry matter yield and percentage transplantable seedlings than in plots with zero levels of watering and fertilizers. It was concluded in this study that for vigorous and healthy R. hookeri seedling production watering should be done three times / week at 1.2 litres / seedling and NPKMg 12:12:17:2 fertilizer should be applied at 28 g / seedling at 3 and 6 months after transplanting with respect to the soils supporting R. hooleri.