Effect of Variety and Nutrient Quantity of Vermicompost on Growth and Yield Parameters of Tobacco (Nicotiana Tabacum) · Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Author

Jinjika, Kathy

Title

Effect of Variety and Nutrient Quantity of Vermicompost on Growth and Yield Parameters of Tobacco (Nicotiana Tabacum)

Abstract

Tobacco is one of the most important cash crops grown in Zimbabwe and it is an important source of foreign currency and livelihoods especially amongst smallholder farmers. The current escalating prices of synthetic fertilizers have led most farmers to shrink their tobacco production posing to lack of foreign currency in the country. Vermicompost has a promising potential and gaining acceptance as an alternative to inorganic fertilizers in Zimbabwe, but farmers are failing to adopt it due to lack of adequate information on it application rates. A field experiment was therefore carried out at Solomio Farm in Madziva. The overall objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of different application rates of vermicompost used solely on tobacco crop specifically to determine the effect of vermicompost levels on growth, yield and quality. A Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 5 replications was used. The treatments were 3 levels of vermicompost and synthetic fertilizers. Vermicompost rates applied at a rate of 600kgs, 800kgs and 1600kgs/ha and compound C at 400kgs/ha. Data was collected at 2 weeks after transplanting up to week 12. Data collected was subjected to the analysis of variance (ANOVA) to determine the effectiveness of using different application rates of vermicompost on tobacco using SPSS version 22.0. The Turkey’s honest significance test at 0.05 probability level was used to separate means. Results shows that 1600kgs/ha of vermicompost have got the highest significance in CGR (P<0.05). All treatments on the height they was no significances differences (p>0.05) week 2. 1600KGS/ha of vermicompost produced good quality tobacco with grade A mellow and dark mahogany, the lowest being grade C. According to the produced results, farmers are recommended to use 1600kg/ha of vermicompost rate because it produces more yield and quality tobacco. Therefore it is recommended that farmers use this rate since it shows significant difference on all the parameters. Lastly, the students and researchers must do more trials using different types of organic manure, different varieties of tobacco and in different regions

Date

2022

Publisher

BUSE

Keywords

Nutrient Quantity

Growth and Yield Parameters

Supervisor

Mr. Mutsengi