Organic nutrient management

protocol for cultivation of litchi

(Litchi chinensis)

Prof. S. K. Mitra Faculty of Horticulture

Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya

Mohanpur , West Bengal India

INTRODUCTION

Litchi is one of the excellent delicious fruit of

sub-tropical region of the world with

tremendous export potentiality.

Its area in India is estimated to be 78000 ha

with annual production 4,97,000 tones, at an

average productivity of 6.4 Mt/ha.

The export value of organically produced

product is increasing and the demand for

organic litchi from EU and Japan increased

markedly.

Objective

To standardize the organic nutrient

management protocol for litchi cv. Bombai

Methodology

Location : Horticultural Research Station, Mondouri,

Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal

(22.43 0 N latitude and 88.34 0 E longitude and altitude

of 9.75 msl.)

Variety : Bombai

Plant density : 124 trees ha-1

Age of the tree : 32 years (2010)

SOIL NUTRIENT STATUS Soil pH Organic

carbon

(%)

Total N

(%)

Available

P2O5

(kg/ha)

Available

K2O

(kg/ha)

6.08 0.30 0.03 69.00 195.00

Organic manures (50% of the recommended dose of

potassium through different

organic sources as per their

nutrient concentration)

Recommended dose of major nutrients of the state for litchi

50 % of the

calculated amounts at

the beginning of the

experiment

Rest 50% applied at

after fruit set , fruit

harvest (from the

second year)

Nitrogen (N):

Phosphorous (P2O5):

Potassium (K2O):

600 g tree/year

200g tree / year

600g tree /year

T1 = Vermicompost (VC) at 42.86 kg/tree/year

T2 =Farmyard manure (FYM) at 60 kg/tree/year

T3 = Poultry manure (PM) at 21.4 kg/tree/year

T4 = Neem cake (NC) at 20.28 kg/tree/year

T5 = Azotobacter (AZ) at 100g/tree/year

T6= Azospirillum (AP) at 100g/tree/year

T7 = VC+ AZ + Phosphorous solubilizers (PS) at 100g/tree/year + Potash mobilizers (KM) at 100g/tree /year

T8= FYM + AZ + PS + KM

T9 = PM + AZ + PS +KM

T10= NC + AZ + PS +KM

T1 1=VC + AP + PS + KM

T12=FYM + AP + PS + KM

T1 3= PM + AP + PS + KM

T14=NC + AP + PS + KM

T1 5= AZ + PS + KM

T16= AP + PS + KM

T17 = Control (without any nutrient treatment).

TREATMENTS

Replications : 3 (three)

Design : Randomized

Block

No. of trees / replication

: 10 (ten)

Time of application of

manures and

biofertilizer:

January and July

Treatment

Number of fruits/tree Yield (kg/tree) Yield (tons/ha)

2010 2011 Pooled 2010 2011 Pooled 2010 2011 Pooled T1: Vermicompost (VC) 2050.00 1280.00 1665.00 22.69 36.53 29.61 2.27 3.65 2.96

T2:Farmyard manure

(FYM) 1760.33 1360.00 1560.17 38.38 33.27 35.83 3.84 3.33 3.58

T3 :Poultry manure

(PM) 1841.67 2136.67 1989.17 35.32 46.84 41.08 3.53 3.73 3.63

T4 : Neem cake (NC) 1668.33 2083.33 1875.83 34.84 45.23 40.03 3.48 4.52 4.00

T5 : Azotobacter (AZ) 1345.00 1583.33 1464.17 27.32 38.73 33.03 2.73 3.87 3.30

T6: Azospirillum (AP) 970.00 1325.00 1147.50 18.77 37.26 28.01 1.88 7.01 4.44

T7: VC+AZ+ PS + KM 2411.67 2700.00 2555.83 48.64 74.55 61.59 4.86 7.45 6.16

T10 : NC+AZ+ PS + KM 920.00 2545.00 1732.50 49.50 66.35 57.92 4.95 6.63 5.79

T1 3 :PM +AP+ PS + KM 2495.00 2333.33 2414.17 53.18 57.67 55.42 5.32 5.77 5.54

T14 : NC+AP+ PS + KM 1540.00 3175.00 2357.50 34.64 81.17 57.91 3.46 8.12 5.74

T17 : Control 1123.33 1400.00 1261.67 18.45 29.42 23.94 1.84 2.94 2.39

Sem( + ) 187.49 232.36 258.57 3.92 5.70 5.99 0.39 0.57 0.60

CD (0.05) 540.00 669.25 730.51 11.29 16.41 16.92 1.13 1.64 1.69

N:P:K

(600:200:600) 68.20 7.26

RESULTS : Yield due to different organic and biofertilizer treatments

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Organic Biofertilizers Organic + Bio

fertilizers

Control

1772.5425

1583.5425

2193.85375

1261.67

Number of fruits per tree

Yield in kg per tree

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

36.6375 34.51

47.135

23.94

61.59 68.2

% increase in NPK = 9.69 %

Yield (tons per ha)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

3.5425 3.86

5.215

2.39

6.16

7.26

% increase in NPK = 15.152 %

Fruit weight and size due to different organic and biofertilizer

treatments in litchi cv. Bombai

Treatment Average fruit weight

(g) Polar diameter

(cm) Equatorial

diameter (cm)

2010 2011 Pooled 2010 2011 Pooled 2010 2011 Pooled T1: Vermicompost (VC)

20.20 26.09 23.15 3.64 3.98 3.81 3.23 3.54 3.39 T2:Farmyard manure (FYM)

21.80 24.52 23.16 3.79 3.42 3.57 3.32 3.49 3.40 T3 :Poultry manure (PM)

19.18 24.86 20.57 3.55 4.11 3.83 3.26 3.33 3.30 T4 : Neem cake (NC)

20.88 21.77 21.32 3.75 3.72 3.74 3.30 3.23 3.27 T6: Azospirillum (AP)

19.40 28.29 23.85 3.83 4.01 3.92 3.16 3.62 3.39 T7: VC+AZ+ PS + KM

20.31 23.78 22.05 3.85 3.91 3.88 3.22 3.29 3.26 T8: FYM+AZ+ PS + KM

20.38 29.08 24.73 3.70 3.91 3.81 3.26 3.52 3.39 T1 1 :VC +AP+ PS + KM 24.15 23.96 24.05 4.03 3.98 4.01 3.36 3.52 3.44

T12: FYM+AZ+ PS + KM 19.70 27.98 23.84 4.06 4.02 4.04 3.39 3.59 3.49 T14 : NC+AP+ PS + KM

22.50 25.63 24.06 3.78 3.82 3.80 3.24 3.41 3.33 T17 : Control

17.63 20.57 19.10 3.80 3.39 3.59 3.35 3.42 3.38

Sem( + ) 0.56 1.75 1.00 0.06 0.12 0.12 0.04 0.05 0.06

CD (0.05) 1.62 5.03 2.83 NS NS NS 0.13 0.14 0.16

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Organic Biofertilizers Organic + Bio

fertilizers

Control

24.31

22.0525

26.06125

20.57

Fruit weight

Treatment

Total soluble solids (TSS) (o Brix) Fruit acidity (%)

Vitamin C content (mg/100 g of aril )

TSS/acid ratio

2010 2011 Pooled 2010 2011 Pooled 2010 2011 Pooled

T1: Vermicompost (VC) 18.13 15.28 16.71 0.76 0.58 0.67 39.87 31.42 35.64 50.57

T2:Farmyard manure

(FYM) 17.67 15.44 16.56 0.67 0.39 0.53 36.65 50.74 43.70 45.21

T3 :Poultry manure (PM) 18.40 16.29 17.34 0.43 0.41 0.42 34.43 48.08 41.26 58.85

T4 : Neem cake (NC) 18.20 15.15 16.67 0.42 0.41 0.42 37.96 51.58 44.77 47.08

T5 : Azotobacter (AZ) 18.20 15.95 17.07 0.82 0.46 0.64 43.20 38.26 40.73 61.63

T6: Azospirillum (AP) 17.07 16.65 16.86 0.67 0.59 0.63 46.23 32.05 39.14 44.41

T7: VC+AZ+ PS + KM 17.73 16.32 17.03 0.58 0.54 0.56 39.67 29.55 34.61 56.04

T8: FYM+AZ+ PS + KM 17.60 17.99 17.79 0.33 0.49 0.41 52.09 52.13 52.11 70.94 T1 1 :VC +AP+ PS + KM 15.67 18.12 16.89 0.58 0.49 0.54 49.31 53.45 51.38 55.05 T14 : NC+AP+ PS + KM 18.40 15.78 17.09 0.41 0.49 0.45 56.82 50.14 53.48 67.25 T17 : Control 15.80 13.69 14.75 0.60 0.66 0.68 27.35 32.93 30.14 41.45

Sem( + ) 0.37 0.83 0.52 0.04 0.03 0.05 4.19 3.64 4.81

CD (0.05) 1.06 2.40 1.48 0.13 0.08 0.13 12.07 10.49 13.59

N:P:K (600:200:600) 18.3 0.44 50.12 41.6

Effect of different organic and biofertilizer

treatments on fruit quality.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Organic Biofertilizers

Organic + Bio

fertilizers Control N:P:K

16.82 16.9975 16.9175

14.75

18.3

Total soluble solids content of fruit (o Brix)

Microbial population (azospirillum and azotobacter) of rhizosphere soil due to different treatments.

Treatment Azospirillum

( x 106 cfu /g of soil) Azotobacter

( x106 cfu/g of soil

2009-10 2010 -11 Pooled 2009-10 2010 -11 Pooled T1: Vermicompost (VC) 4.00 22.25 13.13 8.50 15.92 12.21

T2:Farmyard manure

(FYM) 9.63 22.25 15.94 10.50 17.75 14.13

T3 :Poultry manure (PM) 4.63 13.93 9.28 13.50 21.75 17.63

T4 : Neem cake (NC) 2.13 23.63 12.88 12.42 16.25 14.33

T5 : Azotobacter (AZ) - - - 36.25 52.67 44.46

T6: Azospirillum (AP) 8.75 65.33 37.04 - - -

T7: VC+AZ+ PS + KM - - - 10.00 40.00 25.00

T8 :FYM +AZ+ PS + KM - - - 49.50 83.25 66.38

T1 2:FYM +AP+ PS + KM 39.75 136.95 88.35 - - -

T1 3 :PM +AP+ PS + KM 31.50 159.25 95.38 - - -

T17 : Control 3.75 16.00 9.88 8.75 22.00 15.38

S.Em 1.80 9.04 4.61 1.95 7.28 3.77

C.D (0.05) 5.30 26.67 13.18 5.76 21.49 10.78

* cfu: colony forming units

Microbial population (P-solubilizers and K- mobilizers) of soil

rhizosphere due to different treatments.

Treatment P-solubilizers

(x106 cfu/g of soil) K- mobilizers

(x106cfu/g of soil )

2009-10 2010 -11 Pooled 2009-10 2010 -11 Pooled T1: Vermicompost (VC) 7.50 19.63 13.57 12.50 22.67 17.58 T2:Farmyard manure

(FYM) 7.25 18.70 12.98 8.00 28.50 18.25 T3 :Poultry manure (PM) 6.52 33.15 19.83 12.50 31.12 21.81 T4 : Neem cake (NC) 5.00 30.65 17.83 5.00 22.67 13.83 T5 : Azotobacter (AZ) 4.28 42.40 23.34 4.03 26.67 15.35 T6: Azospirillum (AP) 16.27 39.60 27.94 16.75 34.25 25.50 T7: VC+AZ+ PS + KM 26.25 125.02 75.63 11.50 48.75 30.13 T8 :FYM +AZ+ PS + KM 15.27 44.37 29.82 24.50 95.67 60.08 T1 3 :PM +AP+ PS + KM 12.15 108.50 60.33 43.83 164.67 104.25 T14 : NC+AP+ PS + KM 20.25 84.67 52.46 26.33 36.67 31.50 T17 : Control 3.50 21.00 12.25 15.00 34.33 24.67 S.Em 0.20 0.21 0.25 0.16 0.27 0.27 C.D (0.05) 0.57 0.61 0.71 0.46 0.77 0.76

* cfu: colony forming units

Plate 1: Bearing litchi tree

Plate 2: T7: VC+AZ+ PS + KM

Plate 3: T11: VC+AP+ PS + KM

SUMMARY & CONCLUSION

Addition of biofertilizers along with organic manure was more effective than use of organic manure alone in enhancing fruit growth parameters in litchi.

Combined application of biofertilizers, P-solubilizer, K-mobilizer and N- fixers were found more effective in improving the fruit physico-chemical characters as compared to application of any biofertilizers alone.

Application of vermicompost at (42.86 kg/tree/year) + azotobacter + phosphorous solubilizer + potash mobilizer each at 100g/ tree/year in two splits (January and July) is the most economically profitable (7.83 B:C ratio vs 9.21 in NPK) treatment for cultivation of litchi cv. Bombai organically.