Performance of Enriched Organic Manures on Head Quality, Yield, Nutrient Uptake and Economics of Sprouting Broccoli (Brassica oleracea Var. italica)
Sindhu V *
Department of Vegetable and Spice Crops, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, Cooch Behar, West Bengal-736165, India.
Ranjit Chatterjee
Department of Vegetable and Spice Crops, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, Cooch Behar, West Bengal-736165, India.
Santhoshkumar G M
JC Diwakar Reddy Horticultural College, Tadipatri, Andhra Pradesh-515411, India.
Eggadi Ramesh
Centurion University of Technology and Management (CUTM), Paralakhemundi, Odisha-761211, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The present field experiment was carried out to study the performance of enriched organic manures containing farmyard manure, vermicompost and poultry manure on head quality, nutrient uptake and economics of sprouting broccoli during 2018-19 and 2019-20 at UBKV, West Bengal, India, which comprised of 8 treatment combinations in randomized block design with 3 replications. The results of the field experiment showed that the use of Azophos biofertilizer enriched vermicompost @ 2.5 t/ha along with Azophos biofertilizer enriched poultry manure @ 2.5 t/ha as basal + top dressing of Azophos biofertilizer enriched vermicompost @ 0.5 t/ha along with Azophos biofertilizer enriched poultry manure @ 0.5 t/ha each (T7) significantly improved the head yield (20.47 t/ha) and superior head quality in terms of the maximum TSS (8.14°Brix), vitamin A (288.97 IU/100 g) and vitamin C (90.00 mg/100 g) of organic broccoli. The greatest benefit to cost ratio (1.93) was also obtained from the treatment T7. Hence, the treatment T7 can be recommended for sustainable production of organic sprouting broccoli under terai region of West Bengal.
Keywords: Azospirillum, biofertilizers, enriched organic manure, sprouting broccoli, yield