Soil Nutrient Status of Okra as Affected by Plant Spacing and Fertilizer Levels

Abstract

The present experiment was carried out to find out the influence of various levels of spacing and fertilizer on soil nutrient statusof okra at Vegetable Research Farm, Regional Horticultural Research Station, ASPEE College of Horticulture, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, Gujarat, India during the kharif seasons of 2023 and 2024. The trial was laid out in Randomized Block Design with factorial concept having sixteen treatments and three replications comprising of two factors i.e. factor-I spacing (S) viz. 60 cm ×15 cm (S1), 60 cm × 20 cm (S2), 60 cm × 25 cm (S3) and 60 cm × 30 cm (S4) and factor-II fertilizer (F) viz. 160 % RDF (F1), 140 % RDF (F2), 120 % RDF (F3) and 100 % RDF (F4). The results obtained from the study of two consecutive years revealed that the spacingcould notaffect available N, P and K content of soil after harvestof okra while, amid various fertilizer levels, higher fertilizer dose of 160 % RDF (F1) significantly enhanced available N (308.15, 287.07 and 297.61kg ha-1), P (92.92, 83.96 and 88.44 kg ha-1) and K (471.40, 460.71 and 466.05 kg ha-1) of soil after okra harvest in 2023, 2024 and in pooled analysis, respectively. Increased fertilizer application could result in enhanced nutrient levels in the soil.