EFFECT OF SEED TUBER SIZES ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF TACCA LEONTOPETALOIDES (AMORA) AT VARYING NPK FERTILIZER LEVELS IN JOS PLATEAU STATE

Taccaleontopetaloides is gradually assuming the status of a staple food in some middle belt states of Nigeria. Its production and use has been hampered by the fact that it is presently obtained from the wild. The present attempt may form a road map towards domesticating the crop. This experiment was carried out to study the effects of 4 levels of NPK fertilizers (O kg, 100kg, 125kg and 150kg) and 3 seed tuber sizes (< 45, 60 and 100g) on the growth and yield of Taccaleontopeloides L.(amora). The experiment was conducted during the 2018 rainy season at Ritdung integrated farm, Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State Nigeria(altitude 44 09Ft on latitude 090 881N and longitude 080 851E). The 12 treatment studied were factorial combinations of the 3 NPK Fertilizer rates with Control and 3 seed tuber sizes. The potted experiment which were replicated three (3) times were laid out in the format of a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). There were significant differences within the means due to seed tuber sizes for parameters such as Stem girth, Number of Tubers and Mean weight of Tubers while there were no significant differences within the means for parameters such as Leaf Petiole length, Flower Stalk length, Number of Leaves, Number of Leaflets and Number of Flowers. Similarly, there were significant differences within the means due to the various NPK fertilizer levels for parameters such as Flower Stalk Length and Number of Tubers harvested while there were no significant differences within the means for parameters such as Leaf Petiole Length, Flower Stalk Length, Number of Leaves, Number of Leaflets, Stem girth and Mean weight of Tubers. Large seed tuber size (<100g) recorded the highest stem girth, number of tubers and Mean weight of Tubers. 100kgh-1 of NPK fertilizer rate had the longest Flower Stalk Length and 125kgh-1 produced the highest number of tubers. This experiment has shown that amora can be successfully grown by farmers using large tubers as seeds and moderate application of NPK fertilizer (125kgh-1).