Abstract

The performance of Sansevieria liberica was determined on different growth media in the nursery. The growth media used include topsoil (TS), sandy soil (SS), rice husk (RH), topsoil plus rice husk (TS+RH), sandy soil plus rice husk (SS+RH), topsoil plus sandy soil (TS+SS) and top soil plus rice husk plus sandy soil (TS+SS+RH). The media were prepared in ratio 1:1 and their effect was observed on the height, stem girth, root length, root number and leaf number after six weeks of planting. The proximate and anti-nutritional analysis of the plant as well as the pH and mineral composition of the growth media were determined. The (TS+SS) medium showed the highest performance as regard plant height, stem girth, root length, root number and leaf number as it was significantly (p<0.05) different from other media. (TS+SS) growth medium had the highest pH value of 5.88 and the S. liberica grown on it recorded higher value of the mineral contents than those grown on other media. There was strong correlation between the performance of the plant and the pH value of the growth media as reflected by the linear regression analysis. Plant grown on RH recorded highest value of the anti-nutritional component tested. Thus, the rate at which S. liberica from different growth media contain the anti-nutritional components can be arranged as RH>SS+RH>TS+RH>TS+SS. Base on the result obtained, the growth of S. liberica can be enhanced using topsoil with sandy soil as growth media.

Keywords: Growth media; Soil pH; Rice husk; Mineral composition; Sandy soil; Topsoil