Water Application Rate Effect on Growth Performance of Hybrid Cocoa Seedlings in the Semi-deciduous Forest Zone of Ghana Ebenezer Mensah, Bismark Mensah-Brako, Willson A. Agyare and Francis Padi ABSTRACT: An experiment was conducted to determine the effectiveness of different watering application rates on leaf minerals and physical growth parameters of cocoa seedlings in the nursery. The treatments were arranged in a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. Results showed that watering regime I (0.06 l/pot) recorded low values in both macronutrients and micronutrients and also in physical growth parameters as compared to watering regimes II (0.18 l/pot) and watering regime III (0.36 l/pot) and were below the recommended values. The study showed that water application rate, watering regimes II (0.18 l/pot) and watering regime III (0.36 l/pot) were the most effective treatments in improving cocoa seedlings height, leaf area, plant stem girth, leaf number and tap - root length than watering regime I (0.06 l/pot). The study also revealed that application of 0.18 l/pot and 0.36 l/pot on hybrid cocoa seedlings gave a higher calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, nitrogen, iron, zinc, copper, manganese concentration in the leaves than the water application rate of 0.06 l/pot. The study indicating that hybrid cocoa seedlings required between 0.18 l/pot and 0.36 l/pot in the first five months in the nursery in semi-deciduous forest zone of Ghana in the absence of rain. INDEX TERMS: Nursery, Watering regime, Growth parameters, Macronutrients, Cocoa seedlings, Application rate and Micronutrients. 1. INTRODUCTION Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is a major cash crop in many tropical countries and is produced within 10 o N and 10 o S of the equator where the climate is suitable for its growth. West Africa has been the center of cocoa cultivation for many decades, as two- thirds of the world’s cocoa is produced in West Africa compared to the mere 17 %, Africa’s share of the total world cocoa production in 1900 (Duguma et al., 2001). Currently, the six main world cocoa producers are Ivory Coast, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil, and Cameroon in International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT) Vol. 2 Issue 2, February- 2013 ISSN: 2278-0181 1 www.ijert.org