Effect of foliar application of micronutrients on growth, yield, and quality of annual moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) var. PKM-1

Abstract

In order to explore the response of foliar application of micronutrients on growth, yield and quality of annual moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) var. PKM-1 a field experiment was carried out at Horticultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Periyakulam during the year 2018 to 2019. The treatments consist of Ferrous (1%), Boron (0.2%), Zinc (0.5%), Manganese (0.5%), a mixture of all with control and the experiment was laid out in RBD with three replications. Treatment combination was sprayed at three stages – Vegetative, flowering and pod setting stage. In annual moringa var. PKM-1 maximum plant height (1.43m, 2.39m, 5.36m), trunk girth (2.20m, 18.01m, 32.00 m), number of pods per tree (120 pods), pod length (80.25cm), pod girth (7.9cm), ascorbic acid content (61.34 mg/100g, 65.39 mg/100g, 68.91mg/100g and in pod 43.06 mg/100g) and carotenoid (29.50 mg/100g, 30.13mg/100g, 35.10mg/100g and in pod 5.11 mg/100g) content were recorded in T8 (Mixture of all micronutrients) and followed by T6 [(Ferrous Sulphate 1% + 0.1% Citric Acid) + Zinc Sulphate 0.5%]. However, number of panicles per tree (20.71, 64.20,120.00), number of flowers per panicle (16.97, 29.33, 54.67) and number of pods per panicle (2.29) was recorded in T8 and followed by T5 (Boric Acid 0.2%). This research trial proves that foliar application of micronutrients induced good growth, yield, and quality in annual moringa var. PKM-1.