Effect of staking heights and fertilizer level on the yield of trifoliate yam (Dioscorea dumentorum) in Umudike Southeastern Nigeria

Field experiments were conducted at Umudike a rainforest agro ecological zone of South-Eastern Nigeria, during the 2016 and 2017 cropping seasons to study the effect of varying staking height and fertilizer level on the yield of trifoliate yam. In each year, the experiment was laid out as a 5 x 4 factorial in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. The treatments comprised five levels of NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer ( 0, 150, 300, 450 and 600kg/ha) and four staking heights (0, 1, 2 and 3m). N:P:K 15:15:15 fertilizer up to 300kg/ha significantly (P<0.05) increased the tuber yield while staking height of 2m increased the tuber mean yield. Trifoliate yam yield was increased with increasing N:P:K 15:15:15 fertilizer level up to 300kg/ha while staking increased up to 2m and is recommended.Keywords: Staking height, fertilizer, trifoliate yam and tuber yiel