Effect of Poultry Manure on Growth and Yield of Local Varieties of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus)

Field experiments were conducted during 2012 rainy seasons to study the effects of poultry manure on growth and yield of some selected local varieties of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus). The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Completed Block Design (RCBD), replicated four times. The results show that three were significant differences in growth characteristics and yield of the varieties. There were significant yield depression tha-1 by 21.8%, 21.9%, 49.8% and 63.4%, when Kwanab bokodo was compared with Kwanab magwandara, Kwanab kwete and Lady’s finger (control), on fresh weight basis. However on dry weight basis, reverse was the case with lady’s finger significantly out-weighing (Kwanab magwandara by 14.50%, 25.4%, Kwanab bokodo by 34.7% and Kwanab kwete by 56.9%). There were also significant variations in the length of pods/plant (cm), leave area per plant (cm2), number of leaves per plant and number of branches per plant. This implies that lady’s finger with higher pod dry matter yield there has higher productivity and contains more nutritional components than others. Keywords: Poultry manure, Abelmoschus esculentus, Growth parameters and Yield parameters DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/9-3-0