ABSTRACT
The study was conducted to evaluate the influence of Trichoderma spp., poultry manure as soil amendment and watering regime on the growth of cashew. The Trichoderma used in this study was isolated from the soil samples obtained from Nigeria Institute For Oil Palm Research (NIFOR). The study involved four treatments(Treated soil+ treated seed, untreated soil+ Treated seed,Treated soil+ Untreated seed,Untreated soil+ Untreated seed) and four varying watering regimes(watering daily, every three days, every five days and every seven days) replicated three times. The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design. Data were collected on soil physical and chemical properties and on plant morphological properties. The screen house experiment was carried out at the Experimental Farm of the Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. Data analysis was done using Analysis of variance, Genstat and Least significant test was used for separation of means. The result of the experiment showed that soil seed treatment with trichoderma and different watering regimes had no significant effect (p>0.05) on growth of cashew , however, watering every five days had the highest mean value for plant height, collar girth, lead length, leaf width, root length, dry weight, fresh weight and number of leaves. Watering regime had significant effect on fresh weight of cashew with watering every five days having the highest value.
