Author(s):

R Sudhagar, R Alexander, B Pamela Elisheba and S Kamalakannan

Abstract: The study on the effect of integrated nutrient management on the growth of African marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) was carried out in the Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University. African marigold is a flower crop which is widely cultivated in south India, demanding heavy nutrients for better productivity and quality. The organic manures and EM have also been found to influence the growth of African marigold. In this present study, the organic manure ie., vermicompost @ 5 t ha^-1 and EM @ 1:1000 dilution as foliar plus soil application along with inorganic fertilizers were applied in different combinations. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with 11 treatments in three replications. All the treatments significantly influenced the growth components of African marigold. The application of 75% RDF + vermicompost @ 5 t ha^-1 plus EM @ 1:1000 dilution (soil + foliar application) resulted in improving the growth characters like plant height, plant spread, number of primary branches plant^-1, number of secondary branches, number of leaves, leaf area and dry matter production. Hence, from the results of the present study, it can be concluded that application of 75% RDF + vermicompost @ 5 t ha^-1 plus EM @ 1:1000 dilution (soil + foliar application) was found to be the best for enhancing the growth in African marigold.

Pages: 3669-3671  |  860 Views  310 Downloads

Download (458KB)