Compost and synthetic fertilizer affect vegetative growth and antioxidants activities of moringa oleifera

Moringa oleifera Lam, a highly valuable food commodity that has wonderful range of medicinal uses and possessing high nutritional value. A pot study was conducted to evaluate the combined effects of compost and N:P:K (21:17:17) on growth and antioxidative activities of moringa under greenhouse conditions. Compost and N:P:K fertilizers were applied separately and in combination including control (no fertilizer), 100 g Compost, 2 g NPK, 2 g+100 g (NPK+ Compost), 4 g +200 g (NPK+ Compost) and 6 g+300 g (NPK+ Compost). It was found that when moringa plants were fertilized with 2 g of NPK, it produced maximum plant height (44.79 cm), stem girth (6.33 mm), leaf score (342.40), number of branches (16.07) and crude protein (9.76 mg/g dry weight) contents. Carbohydrate, phenolics, flavonoids (291.25, 16.61, 2.019 mg/g dry weight) respectively were recorded in highest quantity in 100 g compost treated plant. The compost (100 g) treated plants also displayed promising antioxidant activities in terms of the IC50 and ICo.5 values. Therefore, it is concluded that the compost and NPK treatments can effectively improve the vegetative growth, biochemical, phytochemical and antioxidant activities of moringa plant.