Effect of dried powder of Moringa leaves combined with fruit peels on water stressed Solanum scabrum

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of Moringa oleifera blended leaves and Moringa oleifera leaves in combination with banana/plantain-orange peels on the growth performance of water stressed Solanum scabrum plants. Seeds of Solanum scabrum were first raised in a nursery bed for a period of 4 weeks before transplanting into planting bags with each plant per bag. There were two treatments, Moringa oleifera leaves only and Moringa oleifera leaves and banana-orange peels which were added to the soil as dry powder a week after transplanting. Nothing was added to the control plants. The plants were subjected to seven days watering regime. The use of Moringa oleifera leaves + banana/plantain peel + orange peel had some stimulatory effect on water stressed Solanum scabrum plants. There was significant increase in some of the growth parameters measured as compared with the control plants. There was also significant increase (P≤0.05) in chlorophyll a and b between the treated plants and the control. Moringa oleifera leaves applied alone did not yield a positive response as the control plants were found to be significantly higher than the treated plants in most of the growth parameters measured. The study shows that Moringa oleifera leaves in combination with banana and orange peel is promising as a cheap and available bio organic fertilizer to improve the growth of Solanum scabrum plants as well as its resistance to drought stress.