Effect of Bio-stimulants on Growth and Yield of Garlic (Allium sativum L.)

Abstract

The experiment was carried out at Vegetable Farm, Department of Vegetable Science, College of Horticulture and Forestry, Jhalawar (Rajasthan), India during rabi season (2021-2022) on garlic. The experiment consisted of ten treatments of bio-stimulants viz. soil drenching of humic acid @ 4 g/lit. , soil drenching of humic acid @ 6 g/lit., soil drenching of humic acid @ 8 g/lit., soil drenching of seaweed extract @ 4 ml/lit., soil drenching of seaweed extract @ 6 ml/lit., soil drenching of seaweed extract @ 8 ml/lit., soil drenching of vermiwash @ 10 ml/lit., soil drenching of vermiwash @ 20 ml/lit. and soil drenching of vermiwash @ 30 ml/lit.and control and laid out in randomized block design with three replications. The result of the present study clearly indicates that the growth and yield attributes of garlic plants increased with the soil application of different bio-stimulants over control. Growth and yield attributes viz. number of leaves per plant, leaf length, plant height, chlorophyll content of leaves, fresh weight of bulb, bulb diameter, yield of bulb per plot and yield of bulb per hectare increased significantly due to application of humic acid. The maximum value of growth and yield parameters i.e. number of leaves per plant (7.32 and 9.33), length of leaves (48.44 cm and 63.28 cm), plant height (57.38 cm and 69.19 cm) at 60 and 90 DAS, respectively, chlorophyll content (1.87 mg/g), fresh weight of bulb (31.86 g), bulb diameter (4.83 cm), yield of bulb per plot (2.74 kg) and yield of bulb per hectare (212.99 q ha-1) were recorded with soil drenching of humic acid @ 8g/lit. and the minimum value of growth and yield parameters i.e. number of leaves per plant (6.16 and 7.35), length of leaves (34.99 cm and 52.27 cm), plant height (36.83 cm and 49.30 cm) at 60 and 90 DAS, respectively, chlorophyll content (0.57 mg/g), fresh weight of bulb (21.13 g), bulb diameter (3.25 cm), yield of bulb per plot (1.79 kg) and yield of bulb per hectare (141.10 q ha-1) with control.