Effect of Some Selected Organic Mulches on Flowering, Ripening and Suckering of Pineapple Va. Smooth cayenne

The gains obtained from organic mulching of pineapple farms can never be overemphasized. Despite this fact many developed countries still patronize synthetic mulching due to its efficiency in large pineapple farms. However in developing countries of Africa and Nigeria in particular where small scale pineapple farmers still contribute to the national gross domestic product (GDP), the need for cheaper organic mulching techniques which do not only suppress weed and improve soil fertility but have positive influence on pineapple flowering, ripening and suckering is required. Based on this, a research was carried out at the Teaching and Research Farm, Federal University of Technology Owerri to assess the effect of some selected organic mulch types on the maturing trends of Smooth Cayenne pineapple. A 32 factorial fitted into a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications was used. Result showed that main effects from mulch rates and mulch types independently had significant influence on days to first flowering, days to 50% flowering, the interval between time of first flowering and attainment of 50% flowering, days to ripening, interval from flowering to ripening and number of suckers produced at 50% flowering stage while interaction of mulch rates and mulch types only had significant effect on days to first flowering. This study revealed that the utilized organic mulch materials had tremendous positive influence on flowering, ripening and suckering of Smooth Cayenne pineapple.