Effect of organic nutrient sources on productivity, profitability and quality of ginger (Zingiber officinale) in acid soils of Eastern Himalayas

Abstract

Ginger cultivated with limited organic manures will produce low yields and would require different nutrient combinations for increased nutrition availability for higher productivity. The combination of organic nutrient sources was expected to increase and improve the growth and yield of ginger rhizome. Research experiments were conducted at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Ranipool, East Sikkim, India to study the effect of different organic nutrient sources on yield and quality of ginger for three consecutive summer seasons (2013-15) under field conditions aimed to assess the effect of different combinations of organic sources on growth, yield, quality and profitability of ginger rhizome. The study revealed that a single organic soil nutrient source does not significantly influence the growth and yield of ginger rhizomes. The combination of two nutrient sources significantly influenced all parameters of the growth and yield of ginger rhizome. The combination of 50% pig manure + 50% poultry manure gave the best response to all the vegetative growth parameters, viz. plant height (109.0 cm), tillers per plant (16.3 nos.), number of leaves per tiller (17.9 nos.), size of leaves (30.9 cm2) but combination of 50% FYM + 50% rural compost showed the significant effect on finger length (39.3 cm), finger width (29.9 cm), finger weight (563.5 g), fresh yield (16.0 t/ha), cured rhizome yield (3.3 t/ha), net return (` 324.30 × 103 ha) and benefit:cost ratio (3.0), oleoresin content (5.26%), essential oil (3.96%) and crude fibre (4.95%) in rhizome over the other treatment combinations.