INTEGRATED NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IMPROVE GROWTH AND YIELD OF CARROT

Z. Iqbal, Q. Iqbal, T. Ahmad, A. Nawaz, M. Amjad

Abstract: Soil nutritional status and their availability to plant is an important abiotic factor influencing the vegetables productivity. Integration of farmyard manure (FYM), leaf manures (LF), poultry manure (PM) and chemical fertilizers have pronounced effect on carrot growth and yield. In this study, 14 treatment combinations of FYM, LF, PM and urea based on the total nitrogen requirement was tested for two carrot cultivars (T-29 and Oranza). The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with factorial arrangements and replicated thrice. Results indicated that T-29 was significantly better for all the growth and yield attributes as well as nutrient uptake in leaves except root firmness and root to shoot ratio where Oranza showed its superiority. Among different fertilizer treatment combinations of FYM, LM , PM and urea, both carrot cultivars performed better when half PM + half FYM was applied. Overall results revealed that combination of organic sources to meet nutritional requirements of carrot would be beneficial not only to improve carrot productivity but also reducing the rising input costs of inorganic fertilizers.

Keywords: carrot; farmyard manure; leaf manure; poultry manure; yield

Date published: 2017-10-13