Abstract:
Essential plant nutrients are necessary for plant growth, However, some of these
nutrients are added as inorganic fertilizers due to high demand of food arising from
fast growth in population which has necessitated the need to expand agricultural
activities. This has lead to overuse of commercial inorganic fertilizers leading to drop
in soil pH. Low pH reduces the availability of essential nutrients to plants and also
low rate of decomposition of organic matter that is required to increase buffering
capacity of the soil. Soil acidity is reduced by liming, which is an expensive exercise
and does not add fertility to the soil. Leaves and leaf extracts of different plants have
been suggested as an alternative to inorganic fertilizer and liming materials. However their efficacy has not been tested