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ThesisItem Open Access Agro techniques in bhindi for precision farming(Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2019) Ammu Punnoose; KAU; Sajitha Rani, TThe investigation entitled “Agro techniques in bhindi for precision farming” was conducted during 2016 to 2019 at the Instructional Farm, College of Agriculture, Vellayani. The objectives were to standardize the spacing and response of bio inoculants for bhindi under rain shelter and open field conditions and to evaluate the effect of fertigation and foliar nutrition on improving the growth, yield and quality of bhindi and to work out the economics of different cultivation systems. The first experiment was to standardise the spacing and bio inoculants suitable for the cultivation of bhindi under rain shelter and open field conditions. A field experiment was conducted using the variety Varsha Uphar, during May to August- 2017. The treatments consisted of three spacings (S1 - 60 cm x 30 cm, S2- 60 cm x 45 cm and S3 - 60 cm x 60 cm) as first factor and three bio inoculant treatments (B1- Bio inoculant- PGPR mix 1, B2 - Bio inoculant - Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, B3 - No Bio inoculant) as second factor. The experiment was carried out in RBD with three replications. Under both open and rain shelter conditions, taller plants were obtained with closer spacing of 60 cm x 30 cm whereas, numbers of leaves and branches per plant, tap root length and root volume were significantly higher at wider spacing (60 cm x 60 cm). Among the bio inoculants, application of PGPR mix 1 resulted in significantly taller plants, more number of leaves and branches at all growth stages and longer tap root and root volume at final harvest. LAI was found to be significant among spacings at 60 and 90 DAT under open field condition. Yield attributes like number of flowers and fruits per plant, length of fruit, weight of fruit and weight of fruits per plant were found to be significantly higher at 60 cm x 60 cm and inoculation with PGPR mix 1. Wider spacing of 60 cm x 60 cm along with PGPR mix 1 was found to be superior to the other combinations with respect to growth and yield attributes. Fruit yield was significantly influenced by spacing and bio inoculant application and was higher at 60 cm x 30 cm (17.03 t ha-1 under rain shelter and 14.07 t ha-1 under open field condition) and PGPR mix 1 (16.83 t ha-1 under rain shelter and 13.50 t ha-1 under open field condition). Their interaction was also found to be significant (18.78 t ha-1 under rain shelter and 16.36 t ha-1 under open field condition) under both conditions. Dry matter production was significantly higher for 60 cm x 30 cm spacing and PGPR mix 1. Crop growth rate (CGR) was significantly higher at 60 cm x 30 cm and PGPR mix 1 under rain shelter and open field condition. Among the spacings, 60 cm x 60 cm and among bio inoculants, PGPR mix 1 were found superior with respect to relative growth rate (RGR) under both conditions. Among the fruit quality aspects, significant difference was observed for protein content inside rain shelter. NPK uptake showed an increasing trend with decreased plant to plant spacing. Application of PGPR mix 1 resulted in higher nutrient uptake. Available P status of soil after the experiment was significantly higher for 60 cm x 60 cm spacing under rain shelter. AMF treated soil showed significantly higher available P under open field condition. Available K was significantly higher for 60 cm x 60 cm spacing and PGPR mix 1 under rain shelter and open field condition. Higher bacterial and actinomycetes population were found in 60 cm x 30 cm spacing and PGPR mix 1 under both conditions. Higher fungal population was observed in AMF treated soil. Significantly higher water use efficiency was observed with 60 cm x 30 cm spacing and PGPR mix 1 and their interaction under rain shelter and open field condition. Net return and B: C ratio were also higher at 60 cm x 30 cm spacing (B: C ratio of 1.76 under rain shelter and 1.63 under open field) and PGPR mix1 (B: C ratio of 1.75 under rain shelter and 1.58 under open field) and their interaction under both condition (B: C ratio of 1.94 under rain shelter and 1.90 under open field). The first experiment revealed that growing bhindi at a spacing of 60 cm x 30 cm along with seedling inoculation with PGPR mix 1 resulted higher yield, and profit under rain shelter and open field condition The second experiment for standardization of nutrient schedule of bhindi under rain shelter and open field condition was conducted during September to December, 2017 and May to August, 2018. The best treatments from the first experiment were used for this trial. The trial was laid out in split plot design with five replications. The main plot treatments consisted of four levels of fertigation; 50 % adhoc POP recommendation for precision farming (F1), 75 % adhoc POP recommendation for precision farming (F2), 100 % adhoc POP recommendation for precision farming (F3), 125 % adhoc POP recommendation for precision farming (F4) and the sub plot treatments consisted of two foliar levels; poly feed fertilizer (19:19:19 at 0.5 %) (L1) and nano NPK (4: 4: 4 at 0.3 %) (L2). The variety used for the experiment was Varsha Uphar. Growth characters such as plant height, number of leaves per plant, number of branches per plant, LAI at monthly intervals, tap root length and root volume at harvest were significantly higher for the fertigation level F3 and foliar application of L1 under rain shelter, and F4 and L1 under open field condition. Yield attributes viz., number of flowers and fruits per plant, fruit set percentage, length of fruit, fruit weight, total fruit weight per plant, and yield per hectare were higher for the fertigation level of F3 and was on par with F4 and foliar level of L1 under rain shelter. Under open field condition, regarding yield attributes, fertigation level of F4 was on par with F3 and foliar level of L1 was significantly higher than L2. Considering the interaction, under rain shelter, f3 l1 recorded higher fruit yield per hectare and under open field condition, interaction of f4 l1 was on par with f3l1. CGR, RGR and NAR recorded by F4 and F3 were comparable and among the foliar levels, L1 was found to be significantly higher under both conditions. Under both growing conditions, higher chlorophyll content was observed under the fertigation level F4. Chlorophyll content was significantly higher with L2. Under rain shelter, F3 and L1 recorded higher dry matter production. Under open field condition, the highest dry matter production was recorded by F4 was on par with F3 among the fertigation levels and L1 among the foliar levels. Fruit quality parameters were significantly higher at F4 and L2 under both conditions. Higher NPK uptake was found for F3 and F4 under rain shelter and open field condition respectively. Available nutrients in the soil after the experiment showed an increasing trend with increasing fertigation levels under both conditions. Higher fertigation level (F4) resulted in higher microbial count under both conditions. Foliar level with L2 resulted in higher microbial count inside rain shelter. Higher water use efficiency was recorded for F3 and L1 under rain shelter and F4 and L1 under open field condition. Highest net return and B: C ratio was obtained for F3 (B: C ratio of 2.05 during Sept-Dec, 2017 and 2.12 during May- Aug, 2018) and was on par with F4 (B: C ratio of 1.93 during Sept –Dec, 2017 and 2.11 during May – Aug, 2018) among the fertigation levels under rain shelter. Under open field condition, F4 (B: C ratio of 1.64 during Sept -Dec, 2017 and 2.03 during May- Aug, 2018) was on par with F3 (B: C ratio of 1. 60 during Sept –Dec, 2017). Among the foliar levels, L1 recorded the highest B: C ratio under both growing conditions. The study revealed that growing bhindi at a spacing of 60 cm x 30 cm and seedling inoculation with PGPR mix 1 resulted in higher yield and profit under rain shelter and open field conditions. Nutrient scheduling of 98: 25: 136 kg NPK ha-1 (100 % Adhoc POP recommendation) along with foliar application of poly feed (19:19:19) at 0.5 % at fortnightly intervals enhanced the growth, yield and profit under rain shelter condition. Fertilizer dose of 122: 31: 170 kg NPK ha-1 (125 % Adhoc POP recommendation) or 98: 25: 136 kg NPK ha-1 (100 % Adhoc POP recommendation) with foliar application of poly feed (19:19:19) at 0.5 % at fortnightly intervals was beneficial for open field condition. Application of 125 % Adhoc POP recommendation along with foliar spray of nano NPK at 0.3 % at fortnightly intervals improved the fruit quality under both conditions.