Effect of Spacing, Nutrition and Their Interaction on Growth and Yield of Nerium (Nerium oleander L.) cv. Pink Single

Abstract

Background: Commercial cultivation of a crop needs improved agro techniques, such as optimum plant density, application of a required quantity of manures and fertilizers, etc. As such, for nerium cultivation no specific recommendations are available on spacing and nutrition requirements and majority of growers are practicing varied spacing with different nutritional levels. Optimum spacing helps not only in obtaining increased production of better quality but also in the proper utilization of land and other inputs. Excess use of fertilizers may result in wastage of resources apart from damage to plant, soil and environment, whereas, undernutrition leads to low production and poor-quality flowers. The current study aimed to standardize optimum plant spacing and nutrition for commercial production of Nerium. Methods: This field investigation was started in 2018 and carried out up to 2019. The planting materials were planted at the College of Horticulture-Bengaluru with three levels of spacing combined with four levels of nutrition using a factorial randomized complete block design. Result: The effect of spacing, nutrition and interaction studies of Nerium genotype ‘Pink Single’ for various growth and yield parameters showed significant differences for the growth and yield parameters studied. Among the interaction of different levels of spacing and nutrition, yield/hectare was higher (14.43 t) in S2F1 (1.2 m × 1.2 m, 5 kg FYM/plant + 90:180:180 g NPK/plant).