EFFECT OF DIFFERENT LEVELS POTASSIUM AND ZINC ON THE GROWTH, YIELD AND NUTRIENT UPTAKE BY TOMATO (Lycopersicon Esculentum Mill.) IN POT EXPERIMENT
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Date
2018-07
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JAU,JUNAGADH
Abstract
A pot experiment was conducted at Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science, College of Agriculture, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh to study the “Effect of different levels of potassium and zinc on the growth, yield and nutrient uptake by tomato (Lycopersicon Esculentum Mill.) in pot experiment” during rabi 2016-17.
The pot experiment comprising of different four levels of potassium viz., control, 20, 40 and 80 kg K ha-1 and three levels of zinc viz., 0, 5 and 10 kg Zn ha-1 in Factorial Completely Randomized Design repeated thrice were tested in the experiment, in respect of biometric parameters, yield attributes and yield, content and uptake of Macro-nutrients (N, P, K and S) and Micro-nutrients (Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn) in fruit & stalk and their uptake by tomato crop and status of soil available Macro-nutrients (N, P, K and S) and Micro-nutrients (Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn) after harvest. The experimental soil was medium black calcareous, clayey in nature which was slightly alkaline in reaction, pH2.5 (8.07) and EC2.5 (0.41 dSm-1), low in available nitrogen (243.87 kg ha-1), medium in available phosphorus (38.80 kg ha-1), potasium (214.55 kg ha-1), sulphur (10.34 ppm) and iron (5.27 ppm), high in zinc (0.71 ppm), manganese (17.47 ppm) and copper (1.19 ppm).
The results revealed that the yield attributes and yield, quality parameters, and nutrient uptake were significantly influenced by the various levels of potassium and zinc.
The application of potassium @ 80 kg ha-1 significantly increased the plant height, plant spread, number of primary branches per plant, length of fruit, diameter of fruit, weight of fruit, number of fruits per cluster, number of fruits per plant, fruit yield per plant, stalk yield, acidity and total soluble solids.
Application of potassium @ 80 kg ha-1 significantly increased the N, P and K content in fruit and P and K content in stalk. But did not exert any significant effect on content of S, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu in tomato fruit and N, S, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu in tomato stalk. Application of potassium @ 80 kg ha-1 significantly increased the uptake of N, P, K, S, Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn by fruit and stalk of tomato.
The zinc application @ 10 kg ha-1 significantly increased the plant height, plant spread, number of primary branches per plant, length of fruit, diameter of fruit, weight of fruit, number of fruits per cluster, number of fruits per plant, fruit yield per plant, stalk yield, acidity and TSS. Application of zinc produced significantly favorable effect on N and S content in fruit and stalk of tomato. But did not exert any significant effect on content of P, K, Fe , Mn and Cu in fruit and stalk. Significantly higher values of all those parameters were observed with application of 10 kg ha-1.
The significant interaction effect of potassium and zinc application was observed only in case of total soluble solids. Significantly higher values of TSS was recorded with combined application of potassium @ 80 kg ha-1 along with zinc @ 10 kg ha-1.
The available potassium & zinc status in soil after harvest was found increased on increasing application of potassium & zinc levels and recorded its higher value under application of potassium @ 80 kg ha-1 and zinc @ 10 kg ha-1. While, the application of zinc @ 10 kg ha-1 significantly increased availability of S. The application of zinc @ 10 kg ha-1 significantly influence on Zn availability in soil after harvest while, the micro-nutrients in soil after harvest were remained unaffected by potassium and zinc levels.
The qualitative highest yield of tomato can be achieved by application of potassium @ 80 kg ha-1 and zinc @ 10 kg ha-1 in the medium black calcareous soils of South Saurashtra region of Gujarat.
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CHEMISTRY AND SOIL SCIENCE