Effects of Different Rates of Wood Ash on the Growth and Yield of Carrot (Daucus Carota) in Awka, South Eastern Nigeria

Abstract
A 2 by 4 experiment laid out in RCBD was conducted at Crop science and Horticulture agricultural farm, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. The experiments were conducted from June to September 2020 to study the effects of different rates (0.0, 0.1,0.2,0.3 t/ha) of wood ash on the growth and yields of carrot varieties in Awka South Eastern Nigeria, the experiment was carried out on pots and beds. It was observed that treatment 0.3 t/ha performed significantly better in most of the assessed parameters both on growth and yields such as: plant height, marketable yield, root diameter, whole plant biomass, root length, total yield and harvest index. While 0t/ha performed lowest in the growth and yield of carrot varieties for the bed experiment. On pot experiment, 0.2t/ha of wood ash gave highest result both on growth and yield parameters (harvest index, leaf fresh weight, marketable yield, root diameter, root fresh weight, root length, whole plant biomass, and total yield in the pot experiment). Then with 0.3t/ha of wood ash and carrotte touchon variety was the best combination for carrot yield on bed experiment. Generally, carrote touchon performed better than tonchon France carrot variety both in the pot and field. Field experiment was also the best experiment than pot experiment.