COMPOST TEA APPLICATION UNDER ORGANIC AND INTEGRATED METHODS FOR FINGER MILLET (ELEUSINE CORACANA L.) AND MARIGOLD (TAGETES ERECTA L.) CROPS: BIOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF GROWTH PROMOTION, YIELD ENHANCEMENT AND DEFENSE RESPONSE
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Date
2020-12-21
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Abstract
The excessive use of agrochemicals in crop production leads to environmental pollution and health hazards, and thus newer alternate organic or integrated approaches are the need of the hour. Compost tea is one such alternate approach that can be introduced into organic cultivation or in an integrated cultivation practice to obtain higher yield from farming without harming the environment. Aerated (ACT) and non-aerated (NCT) fermentation are the two dominant approaches in preparation of compost tea. In this study finger millet varieties GPU48 and Uduramallige and marigold variety Arka Agni were used to evaluate the efficacy of compost tea in enhancing yield under field conditions. In finger millet compost tea treatments enhances biomass and yield (38%). Similarly, in marigold, compost tea in an integrated strategy resulted in higher flower yield (29%) as compared to recommended fungicide and control. Compost tea promotes induced systemic resistance in finger millet and marigold with enhanced activity of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and levels of phenols and flavonoids. In marigold crop field studies showed more beneficial results with NCT, while in case of finger millet, both ACT and NCT were on par with each
other. Compost tea was observed to enhance callus proliferation in vitro in both finger millet and marigold. The study also recorded significant enhancement in growth of marigold stem cuttings and germination of finger millet seeds when exposed to compost tea. The study thus shows that compost tea based strategy is an effective biocontrol, growth promoter in finger millet and marigold crops.
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