Fertigation of arecanut (Areca catechu L.) during pre-bearing stage
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Date
2007-02
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Abstract
A long term experiment on ferti- drip irrigation was initiated in December, 1996 in a two year old arecanut (Areca catechu L.) garden at Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Regional Station, Vittal with an objective to evaluate the feasibility of supplying fertilizers through drip irrigation and economising the input cost on labour, fertilizers and energy. The treatments comprised of four fertilizer levels (25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of recommended dose), three frequencies of fertigation( 10, 20 and 30 days) and two controls ( absolute control and 100 % NPK soil application). Drip irrigation was given daily from December to May equivalent to 100 % ET. After four years of experimentation, different fertilizer levels significantly influenced girth and trunk elongation. Percentage of flowering was maximum with 75 % fertilizer level followed by 50 % fertilizer level. Four year average otphysiological parameters indicated that different fertilizer levels have maintained more or less same amount of net photosynthesis, transpiration, stomatal conductance etc. Fertilizer levels significantly influenced crop growth rate (CGR). Based on growth observaions and photosynthetic parameters, it was observed that all fertilizer levels were good and 50 % of the standardised fertilizer dose wasfound sufficient for pre-bearing arecanut palms through ferti-drip irrigation thus saving considerable fertilizer dose. Annual maintenance cost could be reduced considerably through saving in labour and fertilizer input to the tune of Rs. 14, 450/ ha over normal practice of basin application of fertilizers and irrigation.
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Fert-dripirrigation, CGR, RGR
Citation
Plantation Crops Research and Development in the New Millennium,(Proceedings of PLACROSYM XIV) CPCRI, Kasaragod 2002 p-328-332