Laboratory and greenhouse assessment of plant availability of organic N in animal manure

Laboratory data (thermal fractionation, pepsin extraction, C:No ratio) of dung and manure were mutually compared and contrasted with plant-availability of organic N (No) as found in a greenhouse experiment according to the double-pot technique. Two types of fresh cow dung (one with a relatively wide and the other with a relatively narrow C:No ratio) and four types of manure (from poultry, sheep, pigs and cow) were compared with ammonium nitrate as chemical reference fertilizer. Relative effectiveness of organic N (REo) was used as characteristic; it was calculated as the fraction of organic N that has the same availability to plants as inorganic N. REo for poultry and sheep manure could not be assessed, probably because of NH3 volatilization causing direct damage to plants and N losses. REo values decreased in the order: dung with narrow C:No > dung with wide C:No > pig manure > cow manure. Thermal fractionation did not provide a suitable index of plant-availability of organic N. Pepsin extracted organic N gave a positive, and C:No ratio a negative relationship with REo. Also between pepsin extracted organic N and C:No ratio a negative relationship was found. As C:No ratio is relatively easy to determine, it is considered the most practical laboratory index for plant availability of organic N in animal manures low in ammonia. When using the double-pot technique, application rates of manure types high in ammonia should be restricte

Responses of onion growth and yield to different planting dates and land management practices

Received: September 10th, 2021 ; Accepted: November 3rd, 2021 ; Published: November 15th, 2021 ; Correspondence: [email protected] varieties of onion (Allium cepa L.) are believed to be well adopted to agroecological conditions of their respective growing region but their lower productivity is a concern to be addressed. The variety ‘Safid e Paisaye’ was selected for this investigation due to its long storability and higher market demand. The present study was carried out at Agriculture Research Farm of Kabul University to study the influence of land management practices and planting dates on growth and yield of onion. Different agronomic traits including number of leaves per plant, leaf length, leaf area per plant, leaf area index, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), maturity period, marketable yield and total yield were studied in these trials. The recorded data were statistically analysed with R software. The planting dates had significant influence on growth and yield of onions. At 90 days after sowing, the highest number of leaves per plant (7.18), leaf length (30.07 cm), leaf area per plant (277.43 cm2 ), leaf area index (0.93) and NDVI (0.29) were recorded for the first planting date (10th May). Similarly, the longest maturity period (176.44 days) and highest marketable yield (37.01 t ha-1 ) and total yield (40.08 t ha-1 ) were also observed under the first planting date. Land management practices did not have significant effect on growth and maturity period of onions. However, the marketable yield was influenced by tillage depth and land preparation. The deep tillage and flatbed recorded highest marketable yield of 38.58 t ha-1 and 26.9 t ha-1 , respectively. The results of the study indicate that, early planting was more appropriate to get vigorous and high yielding onions. The deep ploughed flatbeds were appropriate to get higher marketable yield of onions

A study on the effect of silver nitrate and 8-hydroxyquinoline citrate pulsing solutions on Lilium cut flowers

Lilium is one of the most important cut flowers in commercial markets, giving customers ornamental value. Fresh flowers, a highly perishable item, need more care and proper treatment for their longer post-harvest life and due to this, the end users face the post-harvest losses of cut flowers. Such losses can be minimized by using preservative chemical, which plays an important role in increasing the vase life of flowers. To increase the post-harvest life of lilium cut flowers cv. ‘Pavia’, the present investigation was aimed to study the effect of different combinations and concentrations of silver nitrate at 50, 75 and 100 ppm and 8-hydroquinoline citrate at 100, 150 and 200 ppm pulsing solutions with 20 % sucrose. Three replications were completely randomised with 16 treatments and one control. Silver nitrate showed better results in flower bud opening, flower bud opening to complete flowering, flower size, bloom life, dry weight and dry matter percentage. Among the treatment concentrations, AgNO3 at 50 ppm with 20% sucrose showed the most effective result on enhancing the selected parameters and improved flower quality during post-harvest life. Among the treatment combinations, 8-HQC at 100 ppm + AgNO3 at 75 ppm with 20 % sucrose showed better results. These findings will be useful to researchers, farmers, and end users to retain the ornamental value of lilium cut flowers for longer than usual

Productivity, seed quality and nutrient use efficiency of wheat (Triticum aestivum) under organic, inorganic and integrated nutrient management practices after twenty years of fertilization

A long-term field experiment started in 1995 on Research Farm of Department of Soil Science, CCS Haryana Agricultural University Hisar (India) was selected to study the effects of organic manures and chemical fertilizers on productivity, seed quality and nutrient use efficiency of wheat under pearl millet-wheat cropping system. The organic manures (15 Mg FYM, 5 Mg poultry manure and 7.5 Mg pressmud) were applied alone and in combination with fertilizers (150 kg N + 30 kg P2O5 ha−1) and compared with chemical fertilizers applied alone (150 kg N + 60 kg P2O5 ha−1 and 75 kg N + 30 kg P2O5 ha−1). The results showed that the application of organic manures in combination with N and P fertilizers significantly increased all yield attributes, i.e. plant height, number of tillers/m row length, spike length, number of grains/spike. Higher grain yield of wheat (61.4, 57.4 and 62.7 q ha−1) was observed when recommended dose of N and half of P was applied in conjunction with FYM, poultry manure and pressmud, respectively. Grain yield of wheat increased by 13.5, 6.1 and 15.9%, respectively, under same treatments when compared with recommended dose of N and P fertilizers. Among the organic manures, highest yield (32.9 q ha−1) was obtained with pressmud application. However, application of organic manures alone resulted in poor yield and even lower than 50% recommended dose of N and P fertilizer. All the seed quality parameters (standard germination, shoot length, root length, seedling dry weight, seedling vigour index-I and -II) improved with the combined application of organic manures and chemical fertilizers as compared to their individual application. The partial factor productivity of N and P increased with combined application organic manures and chemical fertilizer as compared to chemical fertilizers applied alone, however, nutrient harvest index and their utilization efficiency decreased with combined application of organic manures and fertilizers as compared to their individual application