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Growth of Seedlings of two Oil Palm Varieties (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) in the Nursery Using two Container Types

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Background: The production of high-quality planting material during the nursery stage is essential for establishing productive, competitive, and sustainable oil palm plantations. Genetic material and container type may influence seedling development.

Objective: To evaluate the growth of seedlings of two oil palm varieties, Deli × Compacta and Compacta × Ghana (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.), produced using two container types.

Methods: The experiment was conducted in Macuspana, Tabasco, Mexico. Seedling growth was evaluated in two varieties, Deli × Compacta and Compacta × Ghana, using tube containers and plastic bags. A randomized complete block design was established with four treatments and four replications, with 100 seedlings per replication (400 seedlings per treatment; 1,600 seedlings in total). Plant height, number of leaves, and stipe diameter were measured every 15 days over 180 days. The same agronomic management was applied to all treatments. Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Tukey’s multiple comparison test.

Results: Significant differences among treatments were detected for the evaluated growth variables. For plant height, T3 (Compacta × Ghana in tube containers; CxGt) showed the greatest value at 180 days, reaching 68.37 ± 0.61 cm. For number of leaves, T1 (Deli × Compacta in tube containers; DxCt) and T3 (Compacta × Ghana in tube containers; CxGt) recorded 12.95 ± 0.11 and 12.38 ± 0.10 leaves, respectively, at 180 days. For stipe diameter, T1 and T2 showed the highest values at 180 days, with 2.21 ± 0.03 and 2.19 ± 0.03 cm, respectively, whereas T4 recorded 1.95 ± 0.02 cm.

Conclusions: Under the conditions evaluated, seedlings produced in tube containers showed greater plant height and number of leaves at the end of the nursery period. Stipe diameter was higher in the Deli × Compacta material than in the Compacta × Ghana material at 180 days. These results support the potential use of tube containers for nursery production.

The Effect of Shade and NPK Fertilization on Growth and Yield of Asystasia gangetica as a Forage

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Asystasia gangetica is a weed usually found in oil palm plantations, which is used as a source of forage and cultivated at a known effective shade level and optimal fertilizer dosage. Therefore, this study was carried out at a place without shade (NS) and 75% of shading net (S) at the Experimental Field of the Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Mulawarman, Samarinda, Indonesia. The seedlings used were planted and fertilized with NPK at doses of 0 g, 1.6 g, and 3.2 g per polybag. The results showed that the level of shade affected plant height, several branches, yield of dry matter shoot, the content of chlorophyll a, b, and a/b content, CP, CF, EE, NFE, and ash, but not on chlorophyll a+b. The dosage of NPK fertilizer affected plant height, the number of branches, yield of dry matter, chlorophyll a, b, and a+b content, CP, CF, EE, NFE, and ash content, while chlorophyll a/b ratio was not influenced. The interaction between shade level and NPK fertilizer dose only occurred in the number of branches, chlorophyll a, b, and b+c content, CP, CF, EE, and ash content, but not on chlorophyll a/b ratio and NFE content. The flowering rate was faster in NS plants, where those with NPK fertilizer dose of 0.32 g/polybag gave the highest yield, except for CP and ash content which had the highest yields on S plants with 0.32 g NPK/polybag.