Application Of The Randomized Completely Block Design To Investigate The Effect Of Soil Ph And The Amount Of Calcium In The Soil On The Rate Of Growth Of Tree Seedlings

Peter Gachoki, Lucas Macharia, Kinyanjui Jeremiah Ndung’u, Simiyu Ayubu

Abstract


Trees play a crucial role in maintaining the beautiful nature of the environment and keeping it in its natural state. They also play diverse roles to both humans and animals. For instance, a few trees are a source of income to farmers, fuel, food and protecting the soil. The rate at which forests are destroyed is alarming since day in day out trees are being cut without reforestation, reducing the forest cover, which leaves the soil bare and exposed to every agent of erosion. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of soil pH and the amount of calcium in the soil on the rate of growth tree seedlings. Specifically, the study focused on the effect of calcium on the tree seedlings growth rate, effect of pH on seedlings growth rate and effect of the interaction between pH and calcium on the growth of seedlings. A randomized complete block design was used for data collection. Secondary data used for this study was collected from the Kenya Forest Research Institute. The data analysis was done using Excel and R statistical software. The results were in form of descriptive statistics and Analysis of variance as an inferential statistics. The results showed that calcium amount, pH and their interaction had a statistical effect on the rate of growth of the tree seedlings. The results also showed that the highest growth rates obtained at pH levels of 6 and calcium amount of 20 grams per 1 plot. The study thus recommended consideration of optimal levels of calcium and pH for fast rate of growth of tree seedlings.


Keywords


Tree seedlings, calcium, pH, Randomized complete block design, Analysis of variance

Full Text:

PDF

References


Bhaskar, S., Kumar, P., Avinash, M. N., & Harshini, S. B. (2021, April). Real time farmer assistive flower harvesting agricultural robot. In 2021 6th International Conference for Convergence in Technology (I2CT) (pp. 1-8). IEEE.

Choudhary, O. P., & Kharche, V. K. (2018). Soil salinity and sodicity. Soil Science: An Introduction, 353-384.

Kamran, M. A., Jiang, J., Li, J. Y., Shi, R. Y., Mehmood, K., Abdulaha-Al Baquy, M., & Xu, R. K. (2018). Amelioration of soil acidity, Olsen-P, and phosphatase activity by manure-and peat-derived biochars in different acidic soils. Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 11(11), 1-15.

Li, S., Liu, Y., Wang, J., Yang, L., Zhang, S., Xu, C., & Ding, W. (2017). Soil acidification aggravates the occurrence of bacterial wilt in South China. Frontiers in microbiology, 8, 703.

Massimi, M., & Radocz, L. (2021). The Action of Nutrients Deficiency on Growth Biometrics, Physiological Traits, Production Indicators, and Disease Development in Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) Plant: A review. AMERICAN-EURASIAN JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE, 15(3), 1-19.

McCauley, A., Jones, C., & Jacobsen, J. (2009). Soil pH and organic matter. Nutrient management module, 8(2), 1-12.

Olmedo, P., Zepeda, B., Rojas, B., Silva-Sanzana, C., Delgado-Rioseco, J., Fernández, K., ... & Campos-Vargas, R. (2021). Cell wall calcium and hemicellulose have a role in the fruit firmness during storage of blueberry (Vaccinium spp.). Plants, 10(3), 553.

Seltman, H. J. (2012). Experimental design and analysis.

Seltman, H. J. (2018). Within-subjects designs. Experimental Design and Analysis. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 339-356.

Soti, P. G., Jayachandran, K., Koptur, S., & Volin, J. C. (2015). Effect of soil pH on growth, nutrient uptake, and mycorrhizal colonization in exotic invasive Lygodium microphyllum. Plant Ecology, 216(7), 989-998.

Tripathi, S., Bhadouria, R., Srivastava, P., Devi, R. S., Chaturvedi, R., & Raghubanshi, A. S. (2020). Effects of light availability on leaf attributes and seedling growth of four tree species in tropical dry forest. Ecological Processes, 9(1), 1-16.

Xie, X., Hu, W., Fan, X., Chen, H., & Tang, M. (2019). Interactions between phosphorus, zinc, and iron homeostasis in nonmycorrhizal and mycorrhizal plants. Frontiers in plant science, 1172.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.52155/ijpsat.v32.1.4276

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2022 Peter Gachoki, Lucas Macharia, Jeremiah Kinyanjui

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.