Abstract:
Two field experiments were conducted in 2008 and 2009 cropping seasons at the linkage farm of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka to evaluate growth and yield response of (Taro) Colocasia esculenta to plant spacing and NPK fertilizer on the plains of Nsukka with the objectives of identifying best performing cultivar, optimum plant spacing and NPK fertilizer rate. Experiment one was laid out in a 3x5 factorial in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in which Factor A is plant spacing comprising 0.3m x 1.0m, 0.4m x 1.0m and 0.5m x 1.0m levels while Factor B is taro cultivars consisting of Nkpong, Odogolo, Nworoko, ugwuta and Nachi. Experiment two was laid out in a 5x6 factorial in RCBD in which Factor A is taro cultivars as mentioned above and Factor B NPK fertilizer with 6 levels among which are : Okg/ha, 100kg/ha, 150kg/ha, 200kg/ha, 250kg/ha, and 300kg/ha with three replications in each of the two experiments. F-LSD was applied to detect significant differences at 5% probability level. The result showed that the mean rainfall for 2009 planting season was higher than that of 2008. The soil was texturally clayey and moderately acidic with a PH of 5.0 .Cultivar diferences in cormel and corm yield were not significant, however Nworoko produced the highest yield of 11.0 t/ha among the cultivars. Plant spacing produced significant effect (P=0.05) in the tuber yield in both 2008 and 2009. Planting at 0.3m x 1.0m significantly gave the highest tuber yield/ha among the three plant spacing. NPK fertilizer showed significant effect (P=0.05) on the measured traits with 200kg/ha and 150kg/ha producing the highest yield of 43.0 t/ha and 3.0 t/ha respectively, in both 2008 and 2009.
