Jayachandran, B KRakhee, C KKAU2019-05-292019-05-292002172094http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810105457PGAn experiment was conducted at the Instructional Farm, College of Agriculture, Vellayani during June 2001 to February 2002 to evaluate the effect of organic manures on growth, yield and quality of turmeric grown as an intercrop in coconut garden and to assess the relative efficiency of organic manures as substitute to inorganic fertilizers. The experiment consisted of eleven treatments and three replications laid out in RBD. The organic manures used were FYM, vermicompost, neem cake, green leaves, poultry manure, biogas slurry and coir pith compost. Organic manures were applied on nitrogen equivalent basis. The results of the study revealed that the growth characters, rhizome yield as well as quality aspects like volatile oil content of turmeric were significantly influenced by various organic manures. But harvest index, top yield, curcumin content, soil properties except NPK content were not significantly influenced by various organic manures. In the case of weed biomass also no significant influence was noticed. FYM, vermicompost and coir pith compost performed well in the case of growth characters. Though FYM and coir pith compost maintained their superiority at various growth stages regarding plant height, number of leaves, number of tillers, dry matter production, LAI, LAD, and root: shoot ratio, other organic manures like neem cake,' green leaves, poultry manure and biogas slurry gave comparable results at various stages of growth. Regarding rhizome spread and thickness, coir pith compost performed superior and the superiority was present only during later stages of growth .. In the case of root spread, root length and root volume also coir pith compost was the best treatment. At initial stage of growth maximum root weight was produced by FYM and at later stages coir pith compost performed better. In the case ofCGR and RGR, FYM and vermicompost performed better. In the case of NAR maximum values were produced by vermicompost, green leaves and NPK alone as POP recommendations of KAU. Coir pith compost as the source of organic manure had positive influence on rhizome yield which was on par with FYM. Coir pith compost, vermicornpost and FYM performed better than other treatments in the case of dry turmeric and bulking rate at various stages of growth. Absolute control treatment recorded lower values in the case of growth and yield characters. Quality of turmeric improved with various organic manures. Volatile oil content was highest in the case of coir pith compost treatment and it was on par with POP recommendations of KAU, NPK alone as per POP recommendations of KAU and FYM alone as per POP recommendations ofKAU In the case of residual nutrients high soil NPK values were registered by green leaves. B: C ratio was maximum when coir pith compost was used as the organic manure and it was on par with FYM, vermicompost and poultry manure. The significant impact of organic manures in the current research brings out the suitability of organic manures as a substitute for inorganic fertilizers for successful turmeric cultivation.ennullThesis