Effect of Soil Mixing Ratios and Pot Size on Early Seedling Growth Performance of Selected Tree Species Under Nursery Condition at Harar, Ethiopia

The growing media and pot size affects seedling growth and development. The aim of the study were to evaluate the effect of different pot size and soil mixing ratio on the seedling growth at FARC nursery. The experiment was laid out in a factorial 4 species×3 pot size×6 soil mixtures RCBD with three replications. The results revealed that seedling growth performance were significantly P 0.05 affected by pot size and soil mixture. The smaller pot size 8cm had a significant effect on A. indica. However, medium pot 10cm had significant effect on G.robusta. Large pot 12cm significant effect on C.africana and M.stenopetala. The soil mixture had significant effect on A.indica, C.africana, M. stenopetala and G.robusta seedling growth. In the case of A.indica, and G.robusta grown in the smaller pot and medium pot were comparable with respect to many parameters. However, since the study area has shortage of rainfall using 10 cm pot would be advantageous. In the case of C.africana and Moringa the larger pot would be advantageous. Thus, using soil ratio of 6 3 2 followed by 5 2 1 for pot of 8 cm and a ratio of 3 2 1 and 4 2 1 for pot 10cm are found to be appropriate to grow seedling of A.indica, and G.robusta. However, in larger pot for C.africana and Moringa, the growing medium of 3 2 1 gave the highest growth parameters. Therefore, further research should be directed towards study the effect of different substrates of high nutrients on pot along with a study on seedling survival after transplanting in the field. Musa Abdella Hamido | Bira Cheneke Feyissa | Megersa Ketema Shumi "Effect of Soil Mixing Ratios and Pot Size on Early Seedling Growth Performance of Selected Tree Species Under Nursery Condition at Harar, Ethiopia" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-8 | Issue-4 , August 2024, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd67254.pdf Paper Url: https://www.ijtsrd.com/engineering/agricultural-engineering/67254/effect-of-soil-mixing-ratios-and-pot-size-on-early-seedling-growth-performance-of-selected-tree-species-under-nursery-condition-at-harar-ethiopia/musa-abdella-hamido