THE EFFECT OF DECOMPOSED SAWDUST AND RICE HULL AS GROWTH MEDIA ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF CORCHORUS OLITORIUS

Abstract

A research was carried out at the Nursery of the Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Nyankpala
Campus, University for Development Studies (UDS), to evaluate how decomposed sawdust and rice hull affect
the growth and yield of Corchorus olitorius. Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications
was used for the experiment. Sawdust (SD), rice hull (R) that had been heaped for about eight months in Tamale
and topsoil (S, used as the control treatment) were collected and utilized as media for the growth of the Corchorus
plants. C. olitorius seeds were sown on the three media and three weeks later they were transplanted into
polyethylene bags. Findings of the study indicate that the treatments differed significantly (p < 0.05) in the
parameters used, and S performed best, which was followed by R. The findings nevertheless show that (sawdust)
and R (rice hull) can be used as growth media for Corchorus olitorius. More investigation should however be
done to find out how the duration of decomposition of sawdust and rice hull affects the growth and yield of C.
olitorius.

Keywords: Corchorus olitorius, Decomposed, Growth Media, Optimum Yield, Growth Parameters