Effect of sugarcane pressmud with inorganic fertilizers on growth and yield of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Amar Singh PG College, Lakhaoti, Bulandshahr (Uttar Pradesh) during 2018-19and 2019-20, to assess the efficacy of sugarcane pressmud on growth, yield and economics of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.). Six different levels of pressmud were evaluated in randomized block design with three replications. The results indicated that turmeric responded significantly to the application of pressmud over control. Application of 20 t pressmud ha-1 along with RDF resulted in the highest plant height (97.4 cm), maximum leaf length (49.4 cm) and leaf breadth (12.9 cm). The highest number of rhizomes per plant (21.5), maximum fresh rhizome weight per plant (310.3 g) and fresh rhizome yield (34.5 t ha-1) were produced with the application of RDF + 20 t pressmud ha-1.The yield increment with RDF + 20 t pressmud ha-1 was 22.7%, over the control (RDF only).The growth, yield attributes and yield of turmeric rhizomes tended to decrease with higher levels of pressmud beyond 20 t pressmud ha-1. The control treatment performed the poorest as against different levels of pressmud application, recording the lowest values for all these characters. Economic assessment of different treatments revealed that the maximum net return (Rs. 4,78,757 ha-1) with the highest B:C ratio (2.95) was obtained with the application of RDF + 20 t pressmud ha-1 as compared to control with a net return of Rs. 3,54,677 ha-1 and B:C ratio of 2.51.