Economics of growing kokum (<em>Garcinia indica</em> Choisy) seedling on different potting media

Abstract

Kokum (Garcinia indica Choisy) is commonly known as Kokum butter tree and underexploited tree spices mostly found in Konkan region of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Surat district of Gujarat on the West Coast of India (Haldankar et al., 2012 and Braganza et al., 2012) [6, 2]. The seeds (Kernels) are rich source of oil known as kokum butter, which is in solid form at room temperature Availability of strong and vigorous seedling as a rootstock plays vital role in the success of nursery programme. With a view to hasten the growth of seedling in order to get strong and vigorous seedling as rootstock at early stage of growth an experiment was undertaken at College of Horticulture, Dapoli, Dist. Ratnagiri 415 712 (M.S.) during the year 2018 to find out most effective potting media for seedling growth of Kokum. The experiment was conducted in Randomized Block Design with six treatments and four replications. The treatment comprises T1: Soil + FYM (3:1) with 1” Cocopeat at top, T2: Soil + Vermicompost (3:1) with 1” Cocopeat at top, T3: Soil + FYM + Vermicompost (2:1:1) with 1” Cocopeat at top, T4: Soil + FYM + Rice husk (1:1:1) with 1”Cocopeat at top, T5: Soil + FYM + Vermicompost + Cocopeat (1:1:1:1) and T6: Soil + FYM (1:1). Results revealed that treatment T6 i. e. Soil + FYM at 1:1 proportion recorded maximum seedling height (48.60 cm), more number of leaves (39.83), highest leaf length (20.11 cm), leaf width (1.93 cm), leaf area (40.61 cm2) and the highest AGR (0.094 cm/day) and RGR (0.0024 cm/cm/day) at 360 days. Similarly, media containing Soil + FYM at 1:1 proportion recorded highest seedling survival percentage (97.50%) and highest percentage of graftable seedlings (83.25%) at 360 DAB and resulted in generating higher gross income (Rs. 3900), maximum net returns (Rs. 467.61) with highest B: C ratio (1.13) and seedling grown on this media were light in weight and easy to transport.