Effects of Coconut Oil Cakes on the Growth Performance of Gima Kalmi (Ipomoea aquatica)

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of coconut oil cakes on the growth performance of gima kalmi (Ipomoea aquatica). The experiment was laid to fit a completely randomized design (CRD) with three treatments (5, 10, 20 tonha-1) of coconut oil cake treatment along with control (no oil cake) each having three replications for this experiment. After plant harvesting, the laboratory investigation was carried out in the Soil, Water and Environment Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna, Bangladesh. Yield contributing characters like plant height and leaf number were significantly (P <0.05) influenced by different treatments. Among the three treatments applied 20 tonha-1 treatment has shown highest response to plant growth due to nutrient availability of the soil. The sequence of response was in the order 20 tonha-1>10 tonha-1>5 tonha-1 significantly (P <0.05) difference in plant growth from the control (0 tonha-1). But the application of organic manure as coconut oil cake, decrease in soil pH was probably due to the production of organic acids during organic manure decomposition or by nitrification and EC value of soil was increased with different treatments. In addition, increased the organic carbon of the soil. Organic carbon increased due to the application of organic manure but insignificantly.