M. Paramasivan*1, N. Senthil Kumar2, L. Allwin1, P. Arul Arasu4, M.I. Manivannan1, N. Rajinimala3 and K. Kumanan2
1Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University,
Killikulam, Vallanad – 628 252, Thoothukudi – Dt, Tamil Nadu. India
2Agricultural College and Research Institute, Kudumiyanmalai, Pudukottai – Dt, Tamil Nadu, India
3Rice Research Institute, Ambasamudram, Tirunelveli – Dt, Tamil Nadu, India
4ICAR – KVK, TNAU, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
Email: paramusoil@gmail.com
Received-28.04.2024, Revised-10.05.2024, Accepted-25.05.2024
Abstract: The present investigation was carried out at Sattankulam taluk, Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu, India to study the effect of different organic amendments with recommended dose of fertilizers on growth and yield of watermelon and physic-chemical properties of Theri soil (red sand dunes) during the year 2019 and 2020. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with Factorial concept (FRBD). In all there were three factors as organic amendments with 6 treatment combinations for each factor, which were assigned at random in each plots with three replications. The recommended dose of fertilizers in treatments was two levels as 75 and 100 per cent. Among the treatment combinations, the tank silt application @ 100 t ha-1 with 100 per cent recommended fertilizer as 200:100:100 kg of NPK ha-1 through fertigation at 7 days interval (A1N5) produced maximum number of branches (10.67), longest vine (362.0 cm), number of fruits plant-1 (2.57), weight of fruit (5.27 kg), fruit yield (68.77 t ha-1), maximum content of total soluble solid (10.94%), ascorbic acid (8.07 mg 100g-1) and improved the physic-chemical properties viz., particle density (2.45 Mg m-3), bulk density (1.31 Mg m-3), per cent pore space (48.33%), pH (6.58), EC (0.35 dSm-1) and organic carbon content (0.52%). The application of FYM @ 20 t ha-1 (A3) which recorded the higher net return ( 1,55,355) and benefit:cost ratio (2.33).
Keywords: Organic Amendments, Soil properties, Theri land, Yield, Watermelon
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