Response of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) moench.) to different rates of nitrogen and lime on an acid soil

Field experiments were conducted in 2007 and 2008 at Calabar in the south easternrainforest zone of Nigeria to evaluate the response of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench) tofour rates of nitrogen (0, 40, 80 and 120kg/ha) and three rates of lime (0, 5 and 10t/ha). Factorialcombinations of the treatments were laid out in a randomized complete block design with threereplications. Nitrogen had significant effects on plant height, number of leaves and branches/plant, number of pods/plant, fresh pod weight and total fresh pod yield. The 80kgN/ha rate maximized all thegrowth and yield attributes. Lime application had no consistent effect on plant height and number ofbranches/plant; but significantly improved all other growth and yield attributes. Total fresh pod yield washighest at 5t/ha lime rate, and this was 91% higher than the control. Significant interactions wererecorded between nitrogen and lime on number of leaves/plant and fresh pod yields, with thecombination of nitrogen and lime at 80kg/ha and 5t/ha giving the highest values