Author(s)

Guinagui N’doua Bertrand^1,2*, Nomel Meless Patrice², Sanogo Souleymane^1,2, Kouassi N’dri Pacôme^1,2, Kouadio Edouard Yves Gilchrist¹, Dao Jonas Patrick^1,2, Koné Dapah Sara Fatim², Koné Daouda^1,2, Fatogoma Sorho^1,2

¹Plant Physiology and Pathology Teaching and Research Unit, UFR Biosciences, Félix Houphouët-Boigny University, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
²WASCAL Center/African Center of Excellence on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Agriculture (WASCAL/CEA-CCBAD), Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) is an herbaceous plant of the Malvaceae family. In Côte d’Ivoire, okra production is estimated to be over 193,000 tons. This low production is largely due to poor soils and hardly covers the needs of the population. To remedy this, growers systematically use mineral fertilizers. However, these fertilizers pollute the environment. To find an alternative to chemical fertilization and increase production, the effect of biofertilizers (Spaawet, Retone, Super Gro) compared with NPK mineral fertilizer was evaluated on Divo, Teriman, and Djonan F1 cultivars. The trial was set up in a factorial block design with three replications. Plant height, number of functional leaves, and crown diameter were assessed at 60 days after sowing (DAS). The time to 50% flowering, production time, and fruit yield were calculated. The results showed that the biofertilizer Retone induced the highest heights and number of functional leaves, with averages of 61.89 cm and 29.88 leaves, respectively. The diameter at the crown (17.77 mm) was highest with the NPK mineral fertilizer, and the shortest 50% flowering time, with an average of 47.61 days, was also obtained with the biofertilizer Retone. The NPK mineral fertilizer produced the longest production time, with an average of 35.25 days. The highest yields were obtained using Retone (11.07 t/ha) and NPK (9.52 t/ha) fertilizers. The “Divo_*Retone” interaction produced the highest yield with an average of 12.19 t/ha. The biofertilizer Retone could therefore be used as an alternative fertilizer to chemical fertilization in okra crops, given its effect on the parameters assessed.

Biofertilizer, Retone, Mineral Fertilizer, Okra, Yield, Côte d’Ivoire

Bertrand, G. , Patrice, N. , Souleymane, S. , Pacôme, K. , Gilchrist, K. , Patrick, D. , Fatim, K. , Daouda, K. and Sorho, F. (2024) Effect of Biofertilizers on the Agromorphological Parameters of Three Okra Cultivars in Southern Côte d’Ivoire. Agricultural Sciences, 15, 408-422. doi: 10.4236/as.2024.154024.