Response of Vermicompost and Biochar as Organic Soil Amendments on Growth and Yield of Brinjal in Red and Laterite Soil of Purulia District of West Bengal

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at KVK Kalyan instructional farm at Jahajpur of Purulia district of West Bengal during rabi season of 2018-19 to assess the effect of Biochar and Vermicompost as organic soil amendments on yield of brinjal under red and lateritic soils of Purulia, West Bengal. Biochar and vermicompost applied alone additionally in the farmers practice. The experiment design adopted was Randomised Block Design (RBD) having four replications with three treatments The treatments comprises of T1: Application of N:P:K  70:30:30 kg/ha (Farmers’ practice) + FYM @ 2 t/ha, T2: Farmers practice  + Vermicompost @ 5 t/ha, T3: Farmers practice  + Biochar @ 10 t/ha. The growth and yield attributing characters recorded was plant height at 30, 60, 90 and 120 DAT, number of fruits per plant, average fruit weight, yield per plant and total yield. Application of biochar and vermicompost had a significant effect on the growth and yield of Brinjal. Highest growth yield attributes and highest fruit yield (22.36 t/ha) were obtained due to the application of farmers practice + vermicompost @ 5 t/ha (T2). Application of biochar along with farmers’ practice did not show any significant results in brinjal yield as compare to vermicompost application treatment. The potential for long-term benefits of biochar remain to be explored through continued research in the red laterite soils of Purulia district of West Bengal.