ABSTRACT
Solanum macrocarpon L., popularly known as African eggplant is an indigenous vegetable which is highly medicinal and nutritious. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different potting media on the growth and development of Solanum macrocarpon. Six different potting media including topsoil (100%), river sand (100%), sawdust (100%), topsoil and river sand (50:50), topsoil and sawdust (50:50), and river sand and sawdust (50:50) were used for growing S. macrocarpon. The experiment was laid out in Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with four replicates. It was found that potting media (p>0.05) significantly affected the leaf length, leaf breadth, leaf number, stem diameter and plant height of plant. Plants grown in topsoil showed the highest performance in the leaf area, plant height, stem diameter and leaf number. These parameters observed in plants grown in topsoil were significantly different (p<0.05) from those grown in other media. The present study revealed that type of media significantly affects the growth parameters and as such selection of the appropriate medium for the cultivation of the species is necessary for optimum growth and development. Further, the growth of S. macrocarpon can be better enhanced using topsoil as the potting media.
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