Soil Characteristics, Microbial Compostion of Plot, Leaf Count and Sprout Studies of Cocoyam (Colocasia [Schott] and Xanthosoma [Schott], Araceae) Collected in Edo State, Southern Nigeria

Cocoyam (Colocasia (Schott) and Xanthosoma (Schott)) belongs to the family Araceae and Alismatales order. The aim of this study is to collect cocoyam from the eighteen Local Government Areas (LGA) in Edo state and describe them based on leaf count and sprout percentage. Using random stratified sampling methods, cocoyam were collected. Field trials were conducted in the Experimental Garden, Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology. The soil was subjected to analysis at the Soil Science Department, University of Benin to determine its characteristics and suitability for the growth of these arable crops. The soil microbial count was 6.25 X 10^sup 5^ and 1.34 X 10^sup 5^ cfu/g for bacterial and fungi respectively. Phosphorus, potassium, manganese and copper were low, zinc and iron were moderate whereas soluble salts were high in the soil. Results of percentage sprout indicate accessions from Esan south east had highest percentage sprout of 92.0% while accessions from Owan East had the lowest percentage sprout value of 33.3%.