PERFORMANCE OF OKRA VARIETIES (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) AS INFLUENCED BY INORGANIC FERTILIZER (NPK) IN BAUCHI, NIGERIA

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of NPK fertilizer on the growth and yield of okra varieties at the research Farm of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Gubi Campus, Nigeria during the 2017 and 2018 rainy seasons. The four NPK rates (Control (0), 75, 150 and 225kg/ha) and three varieties (Clemson spineless, Lima F1 and Yar-Kodon) which were factorially combined and laid down in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The result of the experiment revealed significant difference (P≤0.05) in all the measured parameters. NPK fertilizer application from 0kg/ha to 225kg/ha significantly led to increase in all the parameters measured. The result also showed that the use of NPK fertilizer at the rate of 150kg/ha and 225kg/ha had the weightiest pod weight (2322.70kg and 2265kg and 2630.00kg and 2634.70kg) in 2017 and 2018 season respectively. The variety Clemson spineless and Lima F1 significantly performed better on many of the measured parameters in 2017, except plant height, Number of leaves, and leaf area in 2018. The interaction between variety and NPK fertilizer was however not significant. Stem girth had positive and highly significant correlation with number of leaves (0.6784^**), leaf area (0.7531^**), fruit weight (0.3986^*) and pod girth (0.8939^**). Number of leaves also had highly significant and positive correlation with leaf area (0.7399^**), fruit weight (0.4546^**) and pod girth (0.4959^**).  Pod weight had highly significant and positive correlation with pod length (r = 0.6507^**) and Number of pods (r = 0.8929^**). It could be concluded that the use of improved variety Lima F1 and Clemson spineless and NPK fertilizer at the rate of 150kg/ha can be adopted for okra production in study area.