Ayodele O.P., Ewulo B.S. and A
Abstract
Two identical completely randomized screen house experiments were undertaken in the Department of Crop, Soil and Pest Management, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria to evaluate the growth response of Dumb cane (Dieffenbachia seguine) to different cutting nodes and potting media made with varying levels of goat dung. In preparing the media, top soil, collected from the dept of 0- 15cm and sand (grade used for plastering houses) were both sieved to remove stones, pebbles and other foreign materials and then mixed together in ratio 3:1. The goat dung was air dried before the application at various levels. Treatments involved the use of two and three nodes per cutting in factorial combination with five levels of goat dung at 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40% (by volume of goat dung). The use of three nodes per cutting resulted to higher shoot and root weights than that of two nodes. Increase in goat dung level above 10% led to reduction in number of leaves produced, average leaf area and the weights of both the shoot and root while cuttings with three nodes planted in 10% goat dung tended to put up the best growth performance. Application of high rates of goat dung irrespective of the number of nodes per cutting is not advisable for the growth of D. seguine.