CONTENTS

EFFECT OF ORGANIC FERTILISERS ON GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF TOMATO
Table 1. Salient characteristics of organic fertilisers
S. No. Characteristics
Bio
Phos
Bio
potash
Bio Zinc
New
Suryamin
Aishwarya
I. Physico-chemical properties
a) pH 5.03 6.54 6.31 5.77 6.02
b) EC (dS m -1 ) 4.88 6.66 6.45 1.19 5.05
II.
Chemical properties
a) Total Organic carbon (%) 3.23 3.97 4.42 3.05 27.8
Nutrient content
b) Nitrogen (% N) 0.016 0.042 0.032 0.95 1.2
c) Phosphorus (% of P) 1.91 0.4 0.49 0.91 0.68
d) Potassium (% of K) 1.0 2.0 1.25 0.59 2.3
c) Zinc(mg/kg) 1136 1520 2300 1244 1378
Plant growth in terms of height and dry matter
production recorded at vegetative (30 DAT) and
harvest stages (90 DAT) of tomato are presented in
Table 2. Data set out in the Table revealed significant
difference in plant height due to the application of
various treatments. The plant height at vegetative
stage was recorded highest by T 3
(Inorganic NPK
and Zn) and at 90DAT by T 6
(Inorganic N + Bio Phos
+ Bio Potash + Bio Zinc). Combination of organic
inputs along with inorganics also increased the plant
height significantly over organics alone. Similar
benefits with organic fertilizers were reported in green
gram crop by Anuradha (2010). Supply of P, K
through organic fertilizers (T 6
) resulted in increase of
plant height by 14.1 cm i.e., 32% over Inorganic P K
(T 3
). And also it was observed that supply of zinc
through Bio Zinc recorded higher values by 7.8%
compared to that when supplied through inorganic
ZnSO 4.
This could be due to the nutrient composition
of the organic fertilizers viz., Bio Phos, Bio Potash,
Bio Zinc, New Suryamin and Aishwarya which
contained organic carbon, nitrogen and zinc besides
their main nutrient. Makinde (2007) reported highest
maize plant height of 111 cm with organo mineral
fertilizer which was 44 % more than the control plot.
Drymatter production was significantly higher
compared to control in both the stages of crop growth.
Plant dry matter production is a result of Growth
Environment interaction through leaves, stems, roots
and reproductive parts which contribute to dry matter.
Highest dry matter was produced with integrated
approach of application of nutrients as in T 10
(Aishwarya + Inorganic NPK) at 30DAT and in T 6
(Inorganic N + Bio Phos + Bio Potash + Bio Zinc) at
90 DAT, which recorded 11.8 g higher dry matter
when compared to T 3
(Inorganic NPK and Zn ).
Marimuthu et al. (2003) recorded the highest growth
of green gram by the application of 25 Kg P 2
O 5
ha -1
as Mussorie rock phosphate along with enriched
biodigested slurry.
Leaf area recorded at vegetative stage (30
DAT) presented in Table 2 showed significant
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