Effect of organic amendments and nutrient management practices on yield and quality attributes of Cumbu Napier hybrid CO (BN) 5 under treated sewage irrigation

Abstract

Globally, Treated sewage (TS) reuse for irrigation purposes has been advocated since it shows substantial economic and agricultural benefits. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of organic amendments and nutrient management practices on yield quantitative and qualitative properties in CO (BN) 5. Field experiment was conducted at farmer’s field located near Earipalayam Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), Udumalpettai during 2019-2020. The experiment was conducted in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications. The treatments were managed for irrigation, with TS during entire period of growing season. A progressive increase in green fodder yield and crude protein content was observed. The highest green fodder yield (167 t ha-1 in the first harvest and 211t ha-1 in the second harvest) was obtained by the application of T5 – (Vermicompost@5 t ha-1 +100% NPK) followed by T2- (FYM@25 t ha-1 +100% NPK) of about (162 t ha-1 in first harvest and 205 t ha-1 in second harvest). Results revealed that TS irrigation with T5 - Vermicompost@ t ha-1 +100% NPK) dose worked well, with less crude fibre content and high crude protein content relative to control- 100%NPK at 0.05 significance levels and no signs of phytotoxicity were detected. It was concluded that CO (BN) 5 produced by TS maintained all its fodder quality and that it can be produced commercially for feeding livestock.