Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) in Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench) for Better Growth and Higher Yield

Abstract

Okra is an economically important vegetable crop grown in tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world. A field experiment was conducted at Department of Horticulture, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences Allahabad, (U.P) India, during the March to June season of 2017, to study the growth, yield and quality of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) as influenced by the Integrated Nutrient Management. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications. The twelve treatment combinations viz. T1 (Control), T2 (FYM @ 20tn/ha), T3 (Poultry Manure @ 10tn/ha), T4 (Vermi Compost @ 10tn/ha), T5 (FYM @ 10tn/ha + PM @ 5tn/ha), T6 (FYM @ 10tn/ha + VC @ 5tn/ha), T7 (Poultry manure @ 5tn/ha + Vermi Compost @ 5tn/ha), T8 (FYM @ 10tn/ha + Poultry manure @ 5tn/ha + Vermi Compost @ 5tn/ha), T9 (NPK @ 50% + FYM @ 10tn/ha + PM @ 5tn/ha), T10 (NPK @ 50% + FYM @ 10tn/ha + VC @ 5tn/ha), T11 (NPK @50% + Poultry manure @5tn/ha + Vermi Compost @5tn/ha) and T12 (NPK @ 75% + FYM @2.5tn/ha + Poultry manure @2.5tn/ha + Vermi Compost @2.5tn/ha) were allocated randomly in each plot. The results revealed that the treatment T12 significantly found best among the all treatments at all successive growth stages in almost all the traits i.e. plant height (154.0 cm), number of Branches per plant (4.91), fresh weight of plant (17.11t/ha) and dry weight of plant (2267.67kg/ha) as growth parameters; whereas no. of pods per plant (12.44), single pod weight (15.17gm), length of pods (11.58 cm), dry weight of pods (1039.33kg/ha), total pod yield (14.29t/ha) as yield related traits and protein content (16.61%) and TSS (2.44˚Brix) as quality parameters while the treatment T1 (control) showed lowest response in term of growth, yield and quality of okra.