Okra Varietal Response under Soil Amended with Different Rates of Gliricidia Sepium Green Manure

The wide spread use of low yielding varieties, unimproved traditional methods of production couple with other constrains such as pest and disease infestation, improper agronomic practices and the general poor condition of soil in Sierra Leone are major causes for the low yield of crops experienced in Sierra Leone. Okra yields have been observed to decline in recent years due to over use of land for its production. It is believed that the organic matter content of the soil will be low and the general level of essential nutrients also low in an exhausted soil. These need to be replaced in order to realise high crop yields. This experimental work therefore intends to evaluate the response of two Okra Varieties under soils amended with different levels of Gliricidia sepium green manure. A randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three (3) replications and eight (8) treatments were used in this experiment. The treatment included Gliricidia sepium source of organic manure applied as sole organic fertilizer treatment. Data were collected on the follows parameters: Plants height, Stem girth, Leaf number, leaf area, untagged pod weight, Tagged pod weight, Tagged pod number, Pod length, and pod girth. The data were subjected to ANOVA using Genstat software and means were separated using least significant difference (LSD) at 5% probability. The result indicates that lady?s finger variety responded well to Gliricidia green manure at the rate of 15ton/ha than the stubby variety which makes the Gliricidia green manure the most suitable for the production of improved varieties. It may therefore be recommended that Gliricidia green manure at the rate of 15ton/ha most be adopted by okra growers for the production of improved okra varieties for high yield in the Njala environment. Meanwhile, future further research is required to confirm the results as reported.