Abstract

Sustainable cultivation of eggplant, a fruit vegetable of economic, nutritional and dietary importance is premised on soil fertility traits, sources of plant nutrient and its timely release for metabolism. Little is known about response of eggplant to split application of organic manure and inorganic fertilisers on clay loamy soil. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted during 2017–18 summer and 2018–19 autumn seasons at the North-West University Farm, Mafikeng to investigate the growth and shoot N uptake concentration of eggplant for organic and NPK 20:3:7 fertiliser application at different phenological stages. The study was laid out in 2 x 5 split-plot design, fitted into randomised complete block design replicated three times. The main plot effect was five soil amendments and the subplot effect was 2 and 3 split applications at pre-transplanting, vegetative and anthesis. Data measured on growth parameters, biomass and N uptake were analysed with ANOVA and means separated with LSD at p<0.05. Different amendments exerted significant effect on performance of eggplant but split application of the amendments did not affect the crop significantly (p>0.05). Growth, reproductive development and biomass of eggplant improved significantly on plots supplied with poultry manure in summer. However, in autumn, eggplant demonstrated superior performance in field manured with compost in two splits, relative to cattle dung or unfertilised fields at all phenological stages in Coega soil.