JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN FORESTRY, WILDLIFE AND ENVIRONMENT, VOLUME 12, NO. 2 JUNE, 2020 Ezenwenyi et al., 2020 EFFECT OF POTTING MEDIA ON THE EARLY SEEDLINGS GROWTH OF Treculia africana Decne *,Ezenwenyi, J. U. 1 Chukwu, O 1 , Egwunatum, A.E 1 , Obukwelu, S.L 1 , Ojomah, B.C 1 1 Department of Forestry and Wildlife, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria *Corresponding Author: jezenwenyi@yahoo.com; +234 803 718 8729 ABSTRACT Potting media are important factors to the growth and development of plants. Some plants due to some morphological or physiological adjustments do not attain the necessary seedling growth level expected. This study examined the influence of potting media on the early growth of Treculia africana seedlings. The seedlings were subjected to three different treatments/potting mixtures namely: mycorrhizal soil, top soil and mycorrhizal soil mixed. Each treatment was replicated five times and laid in a Completely Randomized Design. The growth variables measured weekly include; plant height (cm), collar diameter (cm), leaf production and leaf surface area (cm 2 ). The data collected were subjected to analysis of variance and significant means were separated using Duncan multiple range test at 5% probability level. Results revealed that there were significance differences in the growth performance of Treculia africana in all the variables assessed. Seedlings grown in mycorrhizal mixed with top soil gave the best performance in collar diameter (0.199 cm), leaf number (4), leaf surface area (10.29 cm 2 ) and those grown in mycorrhizal soil gave the best performance in height (14.58 cm). The seedlings grown in top soil recorded the least performance in all the growth variables assessed. The study therefore recommended raising Treculia africana seedlings in the mixture of mycorrhizal and top soil for enhanced early growth as well as massive nursery production. Keywords: Potting media, Treculia africana Decne, mycorrhizal, seedling growth, collar diameter INTODUCTION African breadfruit (Treculia africana Decne) from the family Moraceae is an important food crop in Nigeria. The extracted seeds have been found to be highly nutritious when adequately processed (Ejiofor, 1998; Okafor, 1998). This non-timber forest product which is commonly found in home gardens in south eastern Nigeria has formed an inherent part of the people’s daily life for millennia. Generally, home garden provides perspective for conservation of plant genetic resources while contributing to improving livelihood (Gbedomon et al., 2015). Accordingly, the non-timber forest products generally serve as sources of food and income (Shackleton, 2014; Udeagha, 2015). Treculia africana is a widely grown leguminous, medicinal and nutritional fruit tree in tropical humid ecological zone of the southeastern Nigeria. The seeds of Treculia africana are used for making bread fruit cakes, snacks and cookies. The crushed leaves are applied on the tongue as a treatment for goiter, the leaf juice is used locally as ear drops and the leaf ash is used as a remedy for enlarged spleen (Meregini, 2005; Metuno et al., 2007; Agbogidi and Onomeregbor, 2008). However, despites the economic values derived from T. africana, it is still semi wild and mostly undomesticated plants. The basic silvicultural needs are only partially understood; their soil requirement, growth and management practices are not well documented (Achten, 2010; Dolor, 2013). Potting media/mixture are materials through which plants are grown and absorb substances such as nutrients and water. According to Peter-Onoh et al. (2014) good production of permanent tree crop seedlings in the nursery phase is highly influenced by the soil used. Studies have shown that potting mixtures influence the quality of seedlings produced at This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Journal of Research in Forestry, Wildlife & Environment Vol. 12(2) June, 2020 E-mail: jrfwe2019@gmail.com; jfewr@yahoo.com http://www.ajol.info/index.php/jrfwe jfewr ©2020 - jfewr Publications ISBN: 2141 – 1778 Ezenwenyi et al., 2020 311 brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by AJOL - African Journals Online