Fertigation Studies in Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam) under High Density Planting System for Leaf Biomass

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Horticultural College and Research Institute, TNAU, Periyakulam to determine the effect of drip fertigation on the plant growth and leaf yield of moringa variety PKM -1 under high density planting system. The treatment consisted of 75,100, 125, 150 percent of recommended dose of fertilizers under fertigation system along with soil application of 100 percent of recommended dose of fertilizers and without any fertilizers application as control. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with six treatments and four replications. Five individual plants were randomly selected from each plot and observations were recorded on growth, physiology and yield characters. Observations were recorded initially at 70 days after planting and subsequently at 35 days interval and totally three harvests were made during the study period.The result of the study indicated that among all the treatments application of 150 percent of recommended dose of fertilizers through drip fertigation produced significantly higher estimated fresh leaf yield of 2.93, 3.79 and 4.04 tonnes per hacter in first, second and thire harvests respectively when compare to other treatments.