Response of Broccoli to Varied Drip Irrigation Levels and Organic Mulches under Mid-Hill Conditions of Himachal Pradesh, India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52151/jae2024616.1882Keywords:
water requirement, water use efficiency, vegetable crops, drip irrigation, mulching, cost- economicsAbstract
Scarcity of irrigation water significantly hampers growth, yield, and quality of produce. To alleviate this issue, drip irrigation combined with mulching is frequently employed for water management in water-scarce regions. In this study, a field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of three irrigation levels [100%, 80% and 60% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc)] and two organic mulches (grass mulch and pine needle mulch) on yield and yield attributes of broccoli. The results indicated a significant difference in soil nutrients, plant growth and yield attributes. The highest levels of available soil nitrogen (333.8 kg ha-1), phosphorus (57.8 kg ha-1), potassium (375.8kg ha-1) as well as the highest bacterial count [expressed as colony-forming units- (cfu)] (19.40×105 cfu g-1), fungi count (6.47×103 cfu g-1) and actinomycetes count (7.46×10-3cfu g-1) were observed in the best treatment consisting of drip irrigation @ 80% ETc + grass mulch at depths of 0-15 cm. The maximum plant height (51.1 cm), number of leaves per plant (18.9), minimum days to marketable maturity (102), head size (12.8 cm), head weight (316.3 g) and highest yield (242 q ha-1) were recorded in the best treatment with highest returns and Benefit-Cost (B:C) ratio (3.64). Hence, drip irrigation @ 80% ETc along with grass mulch is recommended to be the most efficient and cost-effective in improving broccoli yield in the study area and its marketability for better economic returns.
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