EFFECT OF DIFFERENT ORGANIC MANURES ON THE PRODUCTION OF CHEWING TOBACCO POLY TRAY SEEDLINGS AND ITS RESULTANT EFFECT ON THE GROWTH, YIELD AND ECONOMICS

Abstract

In Tamil Nadu chewing tobacco is one of the commercial crop grown in an area of 10000 to 15000 ha. The seedlings of chewing tobacco are generally grown on raised beds. In this method the transplanting shock is more and the farmers have to fill the gaps one or two times in the main field resulting in increased cost of cultivation. The seedling quality, particularly good root development and a balanced shoot to root ratio is very essential for higher tobacco production. Hence, there is a need to develop an efficient and effective alternative improved nursery technique for chewing tobacco using different organic manures. The polytray method of raising seedlings without soil has many advantages like cost effective, free from soil borne diseases, seedlings have uniform growth, no transplanting shock etc., use of several plant based animal based fertilizer in the production of vegetable transplants has already been demonstrated (Koller et al.,2004). Transplants stocky ,with healthy foliage ,producing new roots quickly and having good carbohydrate reserves are appropriate for planting and additionally they should not have any nutrient deficiency or pest and disease problems (Kubato et al.,2013).In an another study polytray seedlings performance was better and reduced the gap filling (Subbaiah et al.,2018). Considering these points, the present study was taken up to find out the suitability of organic manures on poly tray seedling production and its resultant effect on growth and yield of chewing tobacco.