African Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 2(7), pp. 296-299, July, 2007

ISSN 1991- 637X­© 2007 Academic Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Determination of optimum age for transplanting cashew (Anacardium occidentale)

seedlings in Northern Ghana

Opoku-Ameyaw, K.*, Amoah, F. M., Oppong, F. K. and Agene, V.

Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana, P.O. Box 8, Tafo-Akim, Ghana.

*Corresponding author.*Corresponding author. E-mail: koameyaw@crig.org

Accepted 30 May, 2007

The effect of age on the survival and growth of transplanted cashew seedlings was studied in the savanna ecological zone of northern Ghana in three field experiments. The seedling ages studied varied between 1.5 and 4.5 months after sowing. Seedling age significantly affected the survival of cashew seedlings one year after transplanting in two experiments with seedlings of between 1.5 and 2 months old establishing better than the older seedlings ages. Neither the growth of seedlings nor the proportion of plants that flowered two years after transplanting was significantly affected by seedling age at transplanting. A recommendation on the optimum period for raising cashew seedlings for transplanting in northern Ghana is given.

Key words: Cashew, seedling age, transplanting.