Abstract

The use of quality growth medium can enhance growth and development of oil palm seedlings as the continual use of soil alone in oil palm nursery operations is becoming environmentally unsustainable. Organic materials such as biochar and compost have been found not only to reduce the amount of top soil used in the nursery but also have the potential to provide adequate nutrients for oil palm seedling growth. The aim of this study was to evaluate different growing media (soil only, soil amended with rice husk biochar (RHB) and compost (CO); at different ratios (1:1), (1:1:1), (1:1:2) and (1:2:1). The effect of type of growing media on the physico-chemical properties were monitored. In addition, the vegetative growth parameters, dry weight of seedlings and plant nutrient uptake of the seedlings were measured. Water holding capacity of the media increased with an increase in compost while increasing the RHB did not reflect any direct pattern in the water holding capacity of the growing medium. Generally, organic materials (biochar, compost) based growth media treatments recorded higher and significant differences in the parameters monitored compared to the treatment that did not receive any organic amendments. The soil+RHB +CO, 1:1:2 growth media recorded the highest vegetative growth and nutrient uptake compared to the control (Soil only).

Keywords: Rice husk biochar, Compost, Vegetative growth, Nutrient uptake