Effects of Propagation Methods, Mulching and Fertilizer Types on Growth and Yield of Ginger (Zingiber Officinale ROSC.) in Ogbomoso, South West Nigeria

Abstract

Production of ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) is one of the lucrative business to venture into due to high utilization derived from this produce. However, its production in Nigeria is limited by the varied methods of propagation in addition to the unreliable soil moisture and inadequate nutrient management. This study therefore evaluates the effects of propagation methods, mulching and fertilization could address these constraints. As a results, four propagation methods (small setts of 8–10 g, medium setts of 15–20 g, large setts of 25–30 g, and large seedlings of 25–30 g) were evaluated under two mulching regimes (with or without dry plant residue at 15 tons/ha) and three fertilizer treatments (control, NPK 15:15:15 at 933 kg/ha, and Tithonia compost at 5.2 tons/ha). A 4 × 2 × 3 factorial experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Large rhizome setts produced the highest significant yield (21.94 tons/ha) compared to other propagation methods, mulching produced 14.11tons/ha which was significantly higher than un-mulched plant (10.07 tons/ha) and NPK had the highest significant performance in plants height (66.67 cm), number of leaves (183.78), tiller numbers (16.89) and yield (13.89 tons /ha). Mulching increased yield compared with the control while NPK outperformed Tithonia compost, revealing that farmers can achieve meaningful yield gains with larger setts, surface residue cover, and application of NPK fertilizer.