STUDIES ON THE EFFECT OF ORGANIC MANURES, FERTILIZERS AND HARVESTING SCHEDULES ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF LEMONGRASS (Cymbopogon flexuosus Nees ex. Steud Wats)

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Date
2021-09
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UHF,NAUNI
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ABSTRACT The present research entitled “Studies on the effect of organic manures, fertilizers and harvesting schedules on growth and yield of lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus Nees ex. Steud Wats)” were carried out in the experimental field as well as in laboratory of Department of Forest Products, COF, UHF, Nauni, Solan (HP) during 2020-2021. In the first experiment ‘Morphological studies of Cymbopogon flexuosus’ lemongrass was found to be a tall, perennial aromatic plant which grows upto a height of 1.5 m. Stem was short, erect, smooth, cylindrical in shape, hollow at internodes, solid at nodes and dark purple in color. Roots were adventitious, fibrous and light brown in color with their length 15-30 cm. Leaves were slender, blade like, long, linear, tapering at both ends and glaucous green in color. The inflorescence was large with a length of 30-50 cm and the axis of the inflorescence was up to 12 nodes recorded. The florets were arranged alternatively on the central axis. A spikelet consists of two bracts called glumes were found which were smooth, concave and glabrous. A floret had lemma on the outer side with hair known as awn and palea on the inner side. Two styles with plumose and purple coloured stigma and three bilobed stamens were present in a floret, fruit is a caryopsis. In second experiment on ‘Effect of different organic manures, fertilizers and harvesting schedules on growth and yield of Cymbopogon flexuosus’ the growth and yield parameters were investigated. In this experiment eight treatments consisting of T1 (Control), T2 (NPK (60:45:45 kg/ha)), T3 (FYM (9.6 t/ha)), T4 (Vermicompost (3.3 t/ha)), T5 (Jeevamrit at 25, 40 and 55 days after planting), T6 (FYM + NPK (9.6 t/ha + 60:45:45 kg/ha)), T7 (Vermicompost + NPK (3.3 t/ha + 60:45:45 kg/ha)), T8 (Jeevamrit + NPK (Soil application at 25, 40 and 55 DAP + 60:45:45 kg/ha)) and four harvestings viz., first harvesting at 90 days after planting, second harvesting at 150 DAP, third harvesting at 210 DAP and fourth harvesting at 270 DAP were evaluated in RBD design with three replications in the field. The combined application of Jeevamrit (500 l/ha) + NPK (60:45:45 kg/ha)gave the maximum value of plant height (154.56 cm), number of leaves per plant (144.11), number of off shoots per plant (40.95), fresh weight per plant (134.59 g), dry weight per plant (102.87 g), estimated fresh herbage yield/ha (49.85 q/ha), estimated dry herbage yield/ha (38.10 q/ha), essential oil content (2.53%) andestimated essential oil yield/ha (96.52 kg/ha)and benefit:cost ratio (1.64)which was followed by the combination of Vermicompost (3.3 t/ha) + NPK (60:45:45 kg/ha). Results revealed that combined application of organic manures and inorganic fertilizers produced higher herbage and oil yield as compared to control and sole application.
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