ABSTRACT
This study was carried out to assess the effect of potting media and different watering regimes on celosia growth. The primary aim was to determine the effect of soil amendment and watering regimes on celosia growth. The experiment was carried out in the Screen house of the Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Benin City, Edo state, Nigeria. The different media were prepared in the polypots which contains top soil, top soil and cow dung, top soil and poultry manure, top soil and Trichoderma spp with a ratio of (1:1;1) each. Trichoderma spp was used to colonize the substrate (corn cob). Data collected were: days to emergence, number of leaves, plant height(cm) stem girth(cm)leaf breadth (cm), leaf length (cm), fresh weight (g) and dry weight(g) these data was collected bi- weekly. The experiment was carried out using a Completely Randomized Design Method (CRD) in a factorial experiment, which included four treatments and three replications. The data were analyzed using Genstat version 12.
The results of the study showed that there was no significant difference between the effect of different watering regimes on the growth parameters of celosia argentea, such as; days to emergence, plant height, stem girth, leaf length, leaf breadth, fresh weight, (g) and dry weight(g). As for interaction between soil treatment and watering regime had no significant difference from watering every day, every two and three days on the growth of Celosia argentea. For all parameters tested, top soil (Ts), top soil and cow dung (TS+CD) with any watering regime can be used by a farmer to grow celosia seedlings and can be used as a substitute where there is low availability of water according to the study.
