Abstract:
In the study area, there was problem of seedling quality because of degraded local soil fertility
and competing interest for manure from vegetable, fruit, coffee and kahat producers. The
study was focused on determining the most suitable soil amendment for germination and early
seedling growth of selected indigenous multipurpose agroforestry tree species. Seedlings were
raised in polythene tubes having 10cm diameter and 15cm height and the experimental plots
were laid out with eight treatments and three replications. The morphological attributes of
seedlings such as shoot and root height, root collar diameter, estimated leaf area and actual
leaf area were measured for assessment of tree seedlings vigor and robustness. Analysis of
variance indicated the shoot height of Cordia africana, Fiadherbia albida and Mellitia
ferruginea were significantly different at (P<0.05) whereas shoot height of Moringa
stenopetala was highly significant at (P<0.01). Actual leaf area(cm2
) of Fiadherbia albida
and Moringa stenopetala were significantly different at(P<0.05) and estimated leaf area(cm2
)
of the four species were highly significant at (P<0.01).Treatment8(3A: 2M: 1S:) for Cordia
africana, treatment 5 (3A: 2M: 1S: 23U) for Fiadherbia albida and treatment 2(2A: 2M: 2S:
25D) for both Moringa stenopetala and Mellitia ferruginea exhibited the lowest sturdiness
quotient, which indicates that they are good quality seedling for plantation.Shoot height
indicated positive correlation with most seedling growth parameter but root collar diameter
and Sturdiness quotient showed negative correlation for all species. Treatment 3 (3A: 2M: 1S:
23U) is recommended as the best soilmix compared to other treatments, however it needs
further study. The current study can be taken as an option to solve problems related to nursery
pot soilmix quality.
