Raising oil palm seedlings in urban cities using sole and amended woodash and sawdust manurial treatments

A healthy seedling is a pre-requisite for a successful establishment of oil palm planting in the field. There werevery limited soils available in the urban cities for raising of oil palm seedlings. Therefore, a study was conductedin Akure (Lat 7'N, 5'10'E) in the rainforest zone of South West Nigeria on the effectiveness of woodash andsawdust used ordinarily or in combination with goat, pig and poultry manure as fertilizers on the growth, leafnutrients and soil chemical composition of oil palm (Elaies guineesis L) seedlings in the nursery. Eight organicfertilizer treatments were compared to the control (no fertilizer; no manure) and NPK 12:12:17 + Mg 2 fertilizer.The treatments were applied at 40 g per polybag filled with 10 kg soil (8t/ha), replicated three times and arrangedin a complete randomized block design. The organic fertilizers and soils were chemically analysed. The resultsshowed that the application of organic residues to the soil significantly increased (P<0.05) the soil and leaf N,P, K, Ca, Mg, Soil pH and O. M, plant height, stem girth and number of leaves of oil palm seedlings comparedto the control treatment. Woodash + poultry manure and sawdust + poultry manure gave higher values of soil,leaf nutrients and growth parameters of oil palm seedlings than NPK + Mg fertilizer. Woodash + poultry manureincreased the soil pH, O. M, N, P, K, Ca, Mg and Na by 14.8%, 328%, 75%, 51 %, 8.4%, 2546%,58%and 1123% respectively when compared to NPK + Mg fertilizer treatment. The woodash + poultry treatmentincreased the oil palm seedling leaf N, P, K, Ca and Mg nutrient contents by 3%, 38%, 20%, 266% and200% respectively mare than NPK fertilizer while it also increased the leaf area, stem girth, number of leaf andshoot weight by 14 %, 22. 75 %, 17% and 57% respectively mare than the NPK + Mg fertilizer. However, NPK+ Mg fertilizer gave better values of soil N, P, and K, plant height, leaf area, number of leaves and shoot weightthan woodash and sawdust applied in sole farms while the organic residues significantly increased (P<0. 05) soiland leaf Ca and Mg compared to the fertilizer. Woodash and sawdust applied solely or amended at 8t/ha hasbeen effective as sources of fertilizer nutrients far raising oil palm seedlings.