Effect of vegetarian Kunapajala on pigments and soluble protein content in rice

Abstract

Ancient Indian study of plants, known as ‘Vrikshayurveda’, was meticulously organized into 325 Sanskrit slokas and published in a book of the same name by Surapala about 1000 years ago with number of recommendations for promoting plant development and warding off illness. “Kunapajala” is referred here as a plant nutrient solution. Kunapajala is a liquid ferment from animal wastes that contained animal flesh, dung, urine, bone marrow and skin. The fermented product contains essential components such as amino acids, sugars, fatty acids, keratins, macro and nearly all micronutrients in available form. Y.L. Nene formulated special Kunapajala of vegetable origin instead of raw meat as people showed reluctance towards using raw meat as 40% of the people do not eat meat. As organic farming and natural farming are the need of the hour with reduced usage of synthetic fertilizers, a study was formulated with vegetarian Kunapajala in rice to study its effect on pigments, soluble protein and plant height. Field experiment was conducted during summer 2021 at Wetland farm of TNAU Coimbatore in RBD with three replications and rice variety CO-51. The experiment had 10 treatments viz., T1 - Foliar spray of water, T2 - Foliar spray of water + cow urine (9:1), T3 - Foliar spray of Kunapajala 3%, T4 - Foliar spray of Kunapajala 3% in water + cow urine (9:1), T5 - Soil application of Kunapajala 10%, T6 - Foliar spray of water + Soil application of Kunapajala 10%, T7 - Foliar spray of Kunapajala 3% + Soil application of Kunapajala 10%, T8 - Foliar spray of water + cow urine (9:1) + Soil application of Kunapajala 10%, T9 - Foliar spray of Kunapajala 3% in water + cow urine (9:1) + Kunapajala 10% soil application, T10 - Control (no foliar spray and soil application). Observations were recorded for the parameters like chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, carotenoid, soluble protein and plant height at 25, 40 and 55 DAT (10 days after each spraying). Growth parameters of rice like plant height, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, carotenoids and soluble protein were significantly influenced by foliar spray and soil application of Kunapajala along with foliar spray of cow urine. Among all the treatments, plots provided with foliar spray of Kunapajala 3 % in water + cow urine (9:1) + Kunapajala 10 % soil application (T9) produced plants with greater height (35.07, 55.07 and 81.25 cm), more content of chlorophyll a (2.25, 3.09 and 3.11 mg g⁻¹), chlorophyll b (2.04, 2.81 and 2.88 mg g⁻¹), total chlorophyll (4.28, 5.90 and 5.99 mg g⁻¹), carotenoids (3.61, 4.82 and 4.81 mg g⁻¹) and soluble protein (11.34, 15.09 and 18.75 mg g⁻¹) at 25,40 and 55 DAT i.e., ten days after every spray respectively and followed by Foliar spray (3 %) and soil application of Kunapajala (10 %) (T7) and Foliar spray of cow urine and soil application of Kunapajala (T8). Least amount of chlorophyll a (1.04, 1.16 and 1.76 mg g⁻¹), chlorophyll b (0.91, 1.18 and 1.27 mg g⁻¹), total chlorophyll (1.18, 2.82 and 3.03 mg g⁻¹), carotenoids (1.86, 2.76 and 3.11 mg g⁻¹) and soluble protein (10.6, 14.16 and 17.11 mg g⁻¹) with the smaller plant height (30.40, 50.17 and 74.53 cm) were seen in control plot (T10) no foliar spray and soil application.