Saturday, 15 July 2006
162-2

Organic Approach to Soil and Crop Management for Eco-Friendly Green Chilli Production.

Kalpana Rengabashyam1, Kaleeswari.Kutralingam Ramaiah2, and Devasenapathy Palanisamy2. (1) Dept of Agronomy, Tamil Nadu Agricultural Univ, Lawley Road, Coimbatore, India, (2) Tamil Nadu Agricultural Univ, Lawley Road, Coimbatore, India

Organic farming systems rely on crop residues, animal manures, off-farm organic wastes and aspects of biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and tilth, to supply plant nutrient and to control weeds and other pests. In this context a field experiment was conducted during south west monsoon season of 2004 to study the impact of different organic farming practices in the Western zone of Tamil Nadu. The objective was to evaluate the impact of on-farm wastes along with biological means of pest and disease control on yield and quality of chillies and on the physical, chemical and biological properties of soil. The experiment was laid out with six treatments comprising combinations of organics and inorganics, in randomized block design with four replications. The recommended dose of fertilizer was applied for the inorganic treatment and the organics applied include Farm yard manure, biocompost, neem cake, composted coir pith, biodigested slurry, vermicompost and Azospirillum and biological pest control practices like spraying neem oil. Results indicate that application of composted coir pith (2.83 t/ha), biodigested slurry (2.58 t/ha), Vermicompost (1.25 t/ha) and Azospirillum (2 kg/ha) + PSB (2 kg/ha) recorded higher growth attributes i.e. plant height, leaf area index, relative growth rate and dry matter production. Higher yield components viz., fruit length, fruit girth and individual fruit weight were recorded compared to the inorganic treatments. This treatment also showed higher values of quality characters like capsicin , ascorbic acid and oleoresin followed by FYM, biocompost and neem cake combination. The application of organic manures significantly reduced the soil pH but EC was not much influenced by the organic manures. The soil organic carbon content, soil available N, P and K, NPK uptake were highest in composted coir pith, biodigested slurry, vermicompost and Azospirillum, followed by FYM, biocompost and neem cake combination. In general higher soil microbial population (bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes) was recorded in composted coir pith, biodigested slurry, vermicompost and Azospirillum ? PSB combination, compared to all the other treatments. Composted coir pith, biodigested slurry, vermicompost and Azospirillum ? PSB combination recorded higher gross return (US $2447/ha), net return (US $1968/ha) and benefit cost ratio of 5.10. From the results of the present study, it is concluded that basal application of composted coir pith (2.83 t/ha) biodigested slurry (2.58 t/ha), Vermicompost (1.25 t/ha) and Azospirillum (2 kg/ha) + PSB (2 kg/ha) is the viable organic approach to soil and crop management for eco-friendly green chilli production under irrigated condition.

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