Evaluation of River Sand as a Medium for Raising Cocoa (Theobroma Cacao L.) Seedlings

Abstract

A nursery experiment was conducted between November, 2011 and May, 2012 at the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana to investigate the effect of using river sand and river sand-topsoil mixture on cocoa seedlings. Treatments tested were sole topsoil, sole river sand, river sand + foliar fertilizer (Sidalco liquid fertilizer, NPK-10:10:10), river sand + topsoil (1:1) and river sand + topsoil mixture (1:1) + foliar fertilizer. The results showed that sole topsoil retained more moisture and supported significantly taller seedlings. The river sand-topsoil mixture + foliar fertilizer seedlings had higher chlorophyll content and was more photosynthetically efficient thus resulting in significantly (P<0.05) larger stem diameter than all other treatments. Stem volume of seedlings in the river sand + topsoil +foliar fertilizer were also not different from those found in the sole topsoil medium. There were positive correlations between moisture retention and chlorophyll content of the seedlings. Chlorophyll content was found to be positively correlated to stem diameter and height gain by the seedlings. It was therefore concluded that cocoa seedlings can be raised in polybags filled with a mixture of river sand and topsoil (1:1) for a period of six months provided foliar fertilizer is applied at the rate of 10 mls NPK (10:10:10) in 15 litres of water at bi-weekly intervals.