Ferti-irrigational impact of distillery effluent and Di-ammonium phosphate on the soil and growth characteristics of Egg plant (Solanum melongena L.)

Abstract

A comparative study was conducted to assess the ferti-irrigational effect of Distillery effluent (DE) concentrations such as 10%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% along with control (Bore well water-BWW) and Di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) separately for the pot culture cultivation of Solanum melongena. The results revealed that DE concentrations had significant (P<0.001) effect on EC, Cl¯, Mg2+, OC, HCO3–, exchangeable Na+, available K+, Ca2+, TKN, available P and SO42-, whereas non-significant (P>0.05) effects were observed for water holding capacity(WHC) and bulk density (BD) of the soil. Irrigation with 100% concentration of DE, increased EC (+63.46%), Cl¯ (+292.37%), Mg2+ (+1162.72%), OC (+3763.63%), exchangeable Na+(+264.29%), available K+ (+48.39%), Ca2+ (+815.74%), TKN (+1449.18%), available P (+338.83%), SO42- (+80.07%), while decreased pH (-17.85%) total bacteria (-47.02 %), fungi (-52.17%) and actinomycetes (-82.89 %) in effluent irrigated soil. Application of diluted doses of DE significantly increased plant height, root length, chlorophyll content, leaf area, number of leaves, number of branches, number of flowers, fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit weight, number of fruit and crop yield of S. melongena, with the better results being obtained at a dilution of 50% of DE concentration in comparison to DAP and BWW.