Effects of soil suction based irrigation scheduling and integrated nutrient management on crop yield and water use of broccoli

Abstract

For efficient utilization of harvested rain water, there is a need to generate critical information on developing irrigation scheduling based on soil water retention and transmission characteristics with respect to atmospheric demand not only for obtaining profitable marketable yields but also higher nutrient and Water Use Efficiency (WUE). The present study was conducted at Experimental Farm of CSK HPKV, Palampur, during 2009-10 and 2010-11 with the objective of evaluating the effect of soil suction based irrigation scheduling, vermicompost and NPK levels on growth, productivity and WUE of broccoli. The treatments comprised of (a) Irrigation management viz., I (I ) - Irrigation 1 20(3) of 3 cm at 20 cm mercury rise, I (I ) - Irrigation of 6 cm at 20 cm mercury rise 2 20(6) and I (I ) - Irrigation of 6 cm at 36 cm mercury rise, (b) Nutrient management 3 36(6) viz., M - Vermicompost (VC) + 100% Recommended Dose of Fertilizers 1 2.5 (RDF), M - VC + 50% RDF and M - VC and (c) Control - I + Farm Yard 2 5 3 7.5 Rec Manure (FYM) + 100% RDF. The results indicated that I treatment had higher 20 2 profile water depletion in comparison to I , I and I in both the years. Because 1 3 Rec of favorable soil water status treatment I led to better root and shoots 1 growth, marketable curd yield (by 13.3 and 38.0% during 2009-10 and 2010- 11) and WUE in comparison to I . Likewise, M treatment had higher root and 3 1 shoot growth, marketable curd yield (almost double during both years) and WUE in comparison to M . The highest marketable curd yield, WUE, economic 3 returns was obtained under I M treatment. From the above study, it is concluded 1 1 that the application of 3 cm irrigation at 20 cm mercury rise and VC @ 2.5 t ha-1 + 100% NPK should be followed for obtaining higher returns and WUE.