EFFECT OF BORON APPLICATION, MOISTURE REGIMES AND MULCHING ON SOIL BORON FRACTIONS AND PRODUCTIVITY OF CAULIFLOWER

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Date
2019-10
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Sher-e- Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Jammu
Abstract
An investigation entitled “Effect of boron application, moisture regimes and mulching on soil boron fractions and productivity of cauliflower” was conducted during two successive Rabi 2015-16 and 2016-17.The treatment comprises of four levels of boron viz., B0, B2.5, B5.0, and B7.5 applied through borax (@ 0, 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 kg ha-1), two levels of soil mulching (M) viz., no mulch (M0) and straw mulch @ 6 t ha-1 (M1); and two levels of moisture regimes(W) viz., W1(20 % reduction of plant available water), W2(30 % reduction of plant available water) constituting 16 treatment combinations replicated thrice in factorial randomized block design. Out of the four B levels taken into account, B5.0, exhibited the highest average curd yield of cauliflower (two years pooled data) amounting 314.90 q ha-1, which was statistically superior over the control (275.13 q ha-1) registering 14.45 % improvement. Other two B levels viz., B2.5 and B7.5 exhibited lower than that of B5.0. Regardless of B levels and mulching, the mean curd yield (299.66 q ha-1) under 20 % reduction of PAW moisture regimes (W1) were statistically superior over 293.85 q ha-1, under 30% reduction of PAW (W2). No consistent interaction effect of B, mulching and moisture regimes were observed. Irrespective of B levels and moisture regimes, maximum curd yield 300.03 q ha-1 was realized with straw mulch @ 6 t ha-1 (M1) followed by no mulch (M0) where yield was 291.95 q ha-1, indicating statistically significant difference with respect to the other treatments. The uptake of B was 40.66 g ha-1 witnessed significantly different with B5.0 treatment irrespective of mulching and moisture regimes. Irrespective of boron levels and moisture regime, the boron uptake increased significantly with straw mulch @ 6 t ha-1 (37.06 g ha-1) over M0 (35.05 g ha-1) registering 5.73 % enhancement.
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