ORGANIC AMENDMENTS AND MULCHING FOR GROWTH, FLOWERING, YIELD, SEED PRODUCTION AND POST HARVEST LIFE IN CHINA ASTER
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Date
2022
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Abstract
The investigation was conducted at Dhemaji during 2019-20 and 2020-
21, to study the effect of Organic amendments and mulching for growth, flowering,
yield, seed production and post harvest life in China aster consisting of 36 treatments
and 3 replications. Post-harvest quality of flowers was further studied for long distance
transport in four different packaging material and three harvesting stages.
The vegetative characters in pooled data were highly influenced by the
nutrient treatment N4 (Microbial consortium (Bio fertilizers) + Rock Phosphate @ 5
g/m2 + Vermicompost @ 3.0 t/ha) where the highest plant height 60.00 cm , 205.68
number of leaves, 8.25 number of branches and 3313.39 cm2 leaf area. Similarly the
mulching M2 (Silver lined plastic mulching) and its interaction with N4 i.e., N4M2
recorded the highest values for these traits.
The minimum days for full bloom was recorded in the nutrient treatment
N4 with 107.65 days, the mulching treatment M2 with 112.16 days and their interaction
(N4M2) with 104.36 days. The nutrient treatment N4 recorded the highest number of
flowers of 52.58, blooming period of 45.31 days, self life of 13.77 days and vase life of
11.15 days. The red plastic mulching (M3) was found to record higher values in terms of
flower characters though at par with M2. The interaction treatment N4M2 recorded the
highest number of flowers per plant (54.23) while N4M3 recorded at par performance
with N4M2 showing maximum blooming period of 48.87 days, self life of 14.08 days
and vase life of 11.73 days in pooled data.
The physiological parameters were highly influenced by the nutrient
treatments with N4 recording the highest chlorophyll content of 3.24 mg g-1,
anthocyanin content of 309.02 mg 100g-1, NAR of 0.92 and RLWC of 93.21%. The
mulching treatment M3 recorded highest values in terms of the above physiological
parameters.
The highest seed yield was observed in the treatment N4 (8.10 g/plant
and 13.49 q/ha), M2 (7.52 g/plant and 12.53 q/ha) and the interaction N4M2 (8.45 g/plant
and 14.09 q/ha). The germination percentage and seedling vigour showed a decreasing
trend with increase in time from harvest when stored in room temperature.
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The soil characters in the pooled analysis were found to be highest in
terms of Organic carbon, pH, enzymes and microbial biomass carbon with the
application of Enriched compost @3.0 t/ha (N8).
In the post harvest study after transportation, packaging with high
density polyethylene and flowers harvested at the full bloom stage recorded the lowest
PLW (45.00%), wilting (71.85%), rotting (22.29%) and highest vase life (7.39 days) on
the 5th day in the pooled data.
The B:C ratio was found highest in the treatment N4M2 (4.57 and 5.54)
followed by N4M3 (4.05 and 5.09) and N8M2(3.74 and 4.74) for flower and seed
characters, respectively.