Effect of Organic Nutrient Sources in Tea [Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Research Farm of the Department of Tea Husbandry and Technology, Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur (Himachal Pradesh) in pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon i.e., from March, 2021 to November, 2021. The objective was to assess the impact of organic nutrient inputs on Tea (Camellia sinensis L. O. Kuntze). The experiment comprised of 10 treatments with the organic treatment include application of different nitrogen sources, viz farmyard manure; vermicompost; jeevamrit and vermiwash. The experiment included ten treatments, including a control group, FYM (Farm Yard Manure) @ 20 t ha-1, vermicompost @ 10 t ha-1, split doses of FYM @ 10 t ha-1+10 t ha-1, split doses of vermicompost @ 5 t ha-1+5 t ha-1, FYM @ 20 t ha-1+Jeevamrit @ 10%, vermicompost @ 10 t ha-1+Jeevamrit @10%, FYM @ 20 t ha-1+vermiwash @ 10%, vermicompost @ 10 t ha-1+vermiwash @ 10% and Jeevamrit @ 10%. The experiment was designed following a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications. The soil of experiment field was acidic in nature, silty clay loam in texture, low in Nitrogen, medium in Phosphorus and Potassium. The results showed that the growth, yield attributes and overall tea yield increased significantly with the application of vermicompost @ 10 t ha-1+Jeevamrit @ 10%. Furthermore, this treatment exhibited notably higher gross returns, net returns and additional net returns compared to the control group.