PERFORMANCE OF BLACK PEPPER CUTTINGS AS INFLUENCED BY GROWING MEDIA

Black pepper is a highly valued spice and an important ingredient in traditional medicine. The increase in black pepper cultivation to improve farmers’ income in Nigeria is constrained by poor seedling survival from vine cuttings. Using imported media to reduce mortality is expensive for low- ncome farmers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of local growing media (topsoil, sawdust, and fresh rice hull) on the establishment and growth of black pepper vine cuttings in the nursery under screenhouse conditions. A repeated pot experiment was conducted using a randomised completed block design, with 9 treatments and four replicates. The following treatments were used: 100% topsoil (T1), 100% sawdust (T2), 100% rice hull (T3), 50% topsoil+50% sawdust (T4), 50% topsoil+50% rice hull (T5), 75% topsoil+25% sawdust (T6), 25% topsoil+75% sawdust (T7), 75% topsoil+25% rice hull (T8), and 75% rice hull +25% topsoil (T9). Data on sprouting, mortality and growth were evaluated. The results showed that T2 and T4 significantly reduced the number of days to sprouting compared to T1, T5 and T9, while T6, T7 and T8 exhibited a similar behaviour in the two plantings. Vine mortality was significantly higher in T3 compared to the other treatments, except for T5 and T8 in the second planting. With respect to number of leaves and leaf area, T2 and T6 showed significantly higher values at 8 and 12 weeks after planting (WAP), respectively; whereas T1 had significantly higher values at 16 and 20 WAP compared to the other treatments in both plantings. The results indicated that the most appropriate growing media for early transplanting are 100% sawdust and 50% topsoil+50% sawdust, while 100% topsoil is the most suitable for delayed transplanting.