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Effects of Ground Covers and Fertilizers on Establishment and Yield of Cocoa on Clear-Felled Land in Ghana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2008

D. K. Acquaye  and
R. W. Smith
D. K. Acquaye
Affiliation:
Cocoa Research Institute, Tafo, Ghana
R. W. Smith
Affiliation:
Cocoa Research Institute, Tafo, Ghana
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Summary

An experiment is described on the establishment of cocoa on clear-felled land, using various ground covers on which 22 NP:KMg factorial treatments were later superimposed. Growth of cocoa was improved in mulched and clean-weeded plots and the unshaded trees began bearing two years after planting, which is exceptionally early for young cocoa in Ghana. In the third year responses to NP fertilizer were obtained and in the following year yields were very high, up to 2170 pounds dry cocoa per acre. This was partly responsible for K deficiency, particularly in plots without mulch and KMg, which led to declining yields especially on the NP plots. Significant increases were thence obtained from the KMg fertilized plots. Mulching at the rates used in this experiment is too expensive and uneconomic, but K fertilizer applied at rates higher than the present rate of 75 lb K2O/acre/annum may be needed on Ghanaian forest soils if they are clear-felled for growing unshaded cocoa.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , April 1965 , pp. 131 - 139
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1965

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References

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