Effect of Different Fruit Peel Powders as Natural Fertilizers on Growth of Okra (<em>Abelmoschus esculentus</em> L.)

Abstract

Purpose : Fruit peels waste is one of the waste accumulate in huge quantity every day. It is a serious problem and need to be managed to make environment free from pollution. Fruit peels are very rich in macro and micro nutrients that are beneficial for plant growth. By using fruit peel as fertilizer we can reduce load of wastes and can get more benefits than inorganic fertilizer. Research Method : The experiment was carried out in a Completely Randomized Design with six treatments having twenty replicates. Treatments were, recommended fertilizer application at basal and topdressing (T1, control), half dose of recommended fertilizer application at basal and topdressing times with 1g of banana peel powder (T2), 1g of pomegranate peel powder (T3), 1g of orange peel powder (T4), 0.5g each of banana and pomegranate peel powders (T5) and 0.5g each of orange and banana peel powders (T6) at both times. All agronomic practices were followed as per Department of Agriculture, Sri Lanka except fertilizers. Findings : The results reveals that application of fruit peel powder at basal and top dressing had significant differences (P<0.05) on plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf area, chlorophyll content, days to 50% and 100% flowering, dry weights of leaves, stem, root and fruit, fruit length and girth. At 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th picking, and the highest value was obtained in T6 and lowest value in T1. Originality/ Value : Application of fruit peel powder into the soil leads to improve growth and yield of okra in sandy regosol compared to recommended inorganic fertilizer and present study suggested that, among the all tested treatments, half recommended fertilizer application at basal and topdressing times with 0.5g each of orange and banana peel powders at both times would be the most suitable fruit peel powders to get higher growth and yield of okra in sandy regosol.