Effects of soil amendments and watering management on growth and yield of okra (Abelmoschus Esculentus L. Moench)

Nur Azidah Piakong (2013) Effects of soil amendments and watering management on growth and yield of okra (Abelmoschus Esculentus L. Moench). Universiti Malaysia Sabah. (Unpublished)

[img]
Preview
Text
effect_of_soil_amendments_and_watering.pdf

Download (965kB) | Preview

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of soil amendments and watering management on growth and yield of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench). This field study used a completely randomized design as factorial experiment which took about 6 months from July to December 2012. The two factors were: (i) soil amendments viz. sand, biochar and biochar+sand (ii) watering management viz. watering in the morning and evening (30ml+30ml watering volume), watering only in the morning (60ml watering volume), and watering only in the evening (60ml watering volume). There were a total of nine treatments and each treatment was replicated four times. Plant height, vegetative dry weight, root dry weight, number of days to flowering, number of fruits per plant, fruit length, fruit fresh weight and soil pH were measured. Data were analyzed by two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 5% level of Significance and Tukey's Test for mean separation. There was significant interaction between soil amendments and watering management on mean of plant height at the 6th week and root dry weight. Treatment T6 (biochar amendment; watering only in the evening) showed the highest mean of plant height (65.93cm), 41% higher compared to the control treatment, T1 (sand amendment; watering both in the morning and evening). Treatment T8 (Biochar+sand amendment; watering only in the morning) showed the highest mean of root dry weight (9.55g), which was 69% higher than control treatment. There was significant effect of soil amendment on mean of vegetative dry weight, number of fruits per plant and soil pH. Biochar+sand amendment showed the highest mean of vegetative dry weight (20.92g), 64% highe than sand amendment. Biochar amendment showed the highest mean of number of fruit per plants (log10 0.55), 40% higher than sand amendment. The potential yield of treatment T7 (biochar+sand amendment; watering both in the morning and evening) was the highest (8.11 tonnes ha-1 ), 35% higher than the control treatment (5.29 tonnes ha-1) and 19% higher than the optimal yield of okra (6.6 tonnes ha-1). The best treatment that can be recommended to farmers is treatment T6. Compared to control treatment (T1), treatment T6 showed 41% higher mean of plant height, 68% higher mean of root dry weight and 34.5% higher in potential fruit yield per hectare. It can be concluded that biochar amendment application into soil enhanced plant growth and yield of okra plant. Treatments with biochar and biochar+sand amendment showed higher mean of vegetative part dry weight, total plant dry weight, number of fruit per plants. Soil amended with biochar and biochar+sand also increased soil pH from Ph 4.9 to the range between pH 6 and pH 7. For future studies it is recommended that drought stress study can be done by using more sophisticated method such as drip irrigation, in order to study the effect of water deficit on plant grown on biochar amended soil.

Item Type: Academic Exercise
Keyword: ANOVA, treatment T6, plant
Subjects: Q Science > QK Botany
Department: FACULTY > Faculty of Sustainable Agriculture
Depositing User: MDM FAUZIAH MATSIN
Date Deposited: 07 Jun 2017 13:42
Last Modified: 13 Oct 2017 15:50
URI: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/17098

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item