Evaluation of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers on Chemical and Biochemical Quality Constituents of Burley Tobacco

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of organic and inorganic manures viz., four formulations of organic manures (neem cake, pongamia cake, filter press cake, poultry manure, FYM and vermicompost in different ratios) and two levels of inorganic nitrogen fertilizers (120 and 160 kg N /ha) on chemical and biochemical quality constituents of burley tobacco. Cured leaf samples from bo􀄴om, middle and top leaf positions in different treatments were analysed for chemical and biochemical quality constituents. Total chlorophylls, carotenoids and nitrate nitrogen varied from 0.116 to 0.388, 0.161 to 0.531, 3.87 to 8.06 mg/g, respectively. Chlorophylls and carotenoids were higher in manure treatments compared to inorganic treatments. Polyphenols viz., chromogenic acid and rutin ranged from 0.58 to 3.89 mg/g and 0.94 to 2.85 mg/g respectively. Polyphenols were less with organic manures compared to inorganic manures. Proline content varied from 0.506 to 3.7 mg/g. Organic manures showed higher proline compared to inorganic Nitrogen. Chemical quality parameters viz., nicotine, reducing sugars and chlorides ranged from 0.4 to 1.73%, 0.49 to 1.93% and 0.39 to 2.84% respectively. Reducing sugars content is high with organic manure application compared to inorganic nutrients. Manure treatments not only increased the content of carotenoids, proline, reducing sugars, chlorophyll, and free fa􀄴y acids which play an important role in the quality of tobacco but also decreased the levels of polyphenols and nitrate nitrogen, which are negatively correlated with the quality of tobacco. Among the different organic manures, manure A (neem cake, pongamia cake, filter press cake, poultry manure, FYM and vermicompost in the ratio of 2:2:2:2:1:1) showed superiority followed by Manure C (neem cake, pongamia cake, filter press cake, poultry manure, FYM and vermicompost in the ratio of 1.5:1.5:5:2:1:2) in their influence on chemical quality parameters of Burley tobacco.