Laboratoire de Biotechnologie et Production végétales, Faculté des Sciences et Technique, Université MARIEN NGOUABI, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo
Eggplant is a vegetable fruit plant mostly consumed in Congolese daily menus. The low yield observed is due to the low content in mineral element in the soil. The chemical fertilizers used by producers are expensive and harmful to the environment. This study aims to improve the productivity of local eggplant cultivars by supplying chicken manure. Plantlet from Solanum eathiopicum, Solanum eathiopicum gilo, Solanum eathiopicum gilo-anguivi and Solanum macrocarpon are fertilized with 100, 200 and 300g of chicken manure, thus constituting the doses D1, D2 and D3. These treatments are compared to unfertilized one (D0). The experimental design was randomized complete block in three replicates. A block has 45 subplots and 4 plants per subplots were observed in relation to the plant height, neck diameter, the number of leaves per plant and the number of branches. They also relate to the number of fruits per plant, the fruit length and diameter, the average fruit weight. The addition of 200g of chicken manure per pocket significantly improves the vegetative growth of 4 local eggplant cultivars. At this dose, it is noted an early emission of flowers and buds, a high number of blooming flowers and 1176 fruits/plants. The C3 cultivar, S. eathiopicum gilo-anguivi, is more productive than three others. The dose of 300g per pocket was harmful to vegetative growth, it causes flower drop and reduced yield. Chicken manures are an asset to increase eggplant productivity in the tertiary sand of Brazzaville.