Chicken Bones and Malunggay Stalks as Plant Growth Enhancer

Agriculture is one of the vital movers of a country’s economy. In the Philippines, almost one third of the total land area of 29.187 million hectares is under intensive cultivation. There is a high potential of generating labor and livelihood and agricultural products and by-products processing and intensification and diversification of agricultural product systems. These potentials however, are being hindered due to lack of appropriate agricultural strategies.

Chicken Bones and Malunggay (Moringa oleifera) Stalks as Plant Growth Enhancer aims to integrate new approaches of enhancing the growth of the plant by utilizing the chicken bones and malunggay plants. In line with the aforementioned discussion, the study aims to know the potential of chicken bones and malunggay stalks as plant growth enhancer and compare the quality of the experimental plant growth enhancer to that commercialized product in the industry. Specifically, the study aims to answer the questions:

1. Is there a significant difference among the growth of the plant (plant length, leaf area, number of leaves) treated with different concentrations of experimental plant growth enhancer and the commercial plant growth enhancer?

2. Is there a significant difference among the growth of the plant (plant length, leaf area, number of leaves) treated with different concentrations of experimental plant growth enhancer and the vermiculture?

3. What plant growth enhancer yielded the best result?

4. What is the correct formulation of the plant growth enhancer (combination of chicken bones and malunggay stalks) that yields the best result on the growth of the plant?

3.2 Findings

After the researchers have gathered, calculated and interpreted the data the following information has been found out:

1. For treatment 1 (100% malunggay stalks), there is no significant difference in the leaf area, number of leaves and shoot length when compared with treatment 8 (vermiculture). This holds true to shoot length and number of leaves computations when compared with T7. While there is significant difference found in the leaf area when compared with T7.

2. For treatment 2 (100% chicken bones), there is no significant difference in leaf area, number of leaves and shoot length when compared to both T7 and T8.

3. For treatment 3 (75% chicken bones- 25% malunggay stalks), no significant difference is found in leaf area, shoot length and number of leaves when compared with T7. This holds true to number of leaves computation when compared with T8. While a significant difference is found in leaf area and shoot length when compared with T8.

4. For treatment 4 (25% chicken bones- 75% malunggay stalks), there is no significant difference in shoot length and number of leaves compared to both T7 and T8. For the leaf area, a significant difference has been evaluated when compared with T7 while no significant difference has been evaluated when compared with T8.

5. For treatment 5 (50% chicken bones- 50% malunggay stalks), significant difference has been assessed in number of leaves when compared to both T7 and T8, and as well as in the shoot length when compared with T8. For the leaf area, no significant difference has been assessed when compared to both T7 and T8.

6. For treatment 6 (no treatment), significant difference has been evaluated in leaf area, shoot length and number of leaves, when compared with T8, while no significant difference has been computed in the said factors when compared with T7.

7. For treatment 7 (commercial plant growth enhancer), significant difference has been evaluated in leaf area while no significant difference has been computed in shoot length and number of leaves when compared with T8.

8. For the plant location, both shoot length and number of leaves showed a significant difference when the two locations were compared with each other. On the other hand, the leaf area of both locations did not show significant difference in number.

There is no statistical evidence to prove that there is a significant difference in the leaf area, shoot length and number of leaves among the different formulations of the experimental plant growth enhancer.

3.3 Conclusions

Chicken bones and malunggay stalks have the potential to be analternative plant growth enhancer. Considering the minimal acquisition cost of the materials and the comparative performance it has showed for the leaf area, shoot length, and the number of leaves in relation to the commercially available one and the vermiculture, a latent source of the plant growth enhancer can be the leftover portions from chicken and malunggay and may serve as an alternative for the customary sources of plant growth enhancer, which currently spring from inorganic matter.

The concentration of the experimental plant growth enhancer does not affect the performance in the leaf area, shoot length and number of leaves. The concentrations then do not generally influence on the growth performance. For economic reasons, one can use the greater concentration of malunggay stalks without sacrificing the quality of the plant growth enhancer. Concurrently, this study will significantly help in the research of finding better agricultural strategies for the intensification and diversification of agricultural product systems and at the same time provide alternatives in attaining a sustainable environment.

3.4 Recommendations
Primary Recommendations

The researchers recommend further studies on the efficacy of chicken bones and malunggay stalks as plant growth enhancer. As both the main materials are lavishly available in the country and are usually considered waste, an achievable amount of plant growth enhancer can be realized. The researchers recommend using the greater concentration of malunggay stalks (T4 and T1) if the individual is considering the leaf area, shoot length, and number of leaves, as it saves more resources and brings close results from the traditional plant growth enhancer (vermiculture).

Secondary Recommendations

For the conduct of the experimentation, an accessible, conducive garden should be considered in order to easily carry out regular monitoring on the growth of the plants. Other interested researchers can also invest on other plants that can be easily grown and is receptive to the environment. Using the chicken bones from uncooked chicken can also be done so as to increase the chance of getting higher calcium and phosphorus level from the source.

Since the researchers are limited with the resources, only two replicates (plot 1 and plot 2) were administered, thus adding plants to be used for the experiment is recommended so as to increase the probability of detecting a significant difference between two treatments and as well as to increase the confidence level of the results. For the analysis of the data, test on the secondary macronutrient group (Calcium, Magnesium and Sulfur) can be done so as to widen the range of the macronutrients to be studied on.