Application of Discarded Fish Pond Water on Soils to Assess Growth Rate and Fresh Edible leaves Weight of Fluted Pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis, Hook, F.) in Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria

Many people ignorantly discard fish pond water (FPW) despite its huge potentials to improve soil fertility by enhancing its physicochemical properties as well as increasing crop growth and yield. Consequently, the objective of this paper was to apply discarded fish pond water (FPW) on soils to assess growth rate and fresh edible leaves weight of fluted pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis, Hook, F.) in Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria using appropriate standard procedures. Results obtained showed that fluted pumpkin plants that received FPW significantly increased the germination percentage from 97.0% to 99%, while plants that did not receive FPW (control) had germination percentage of 68.0% to 90.0%. The fresh weight of leaves for increased growth and edible yield of fluted pumpkin also increased from 54.6g/m2 to 55.2g/m2 after application of FPW. The outstanding performance of plants that received FPW against their control counterparts could be attributed to additional supply of nutrients to the soil by the FPW.