Effect of a bio-extract solution from water convolvulus and gypsum on yield and quality of yardlong bean seed

Abstract

An experiment to determine yardlong bean seed production using an organic farming system by application of a bio-extract solution from water convolvulus rated 1:1,000, gypsum rated 50 kg./rai, anda bio-extract solution from water convolvulus rated 1:1,000 + gypsum rated 50 kg./rai, compared with a conventional method (chemical application) for control, was done at the Department of Plant Science,Faculty of Natural Resources, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai campus, Songkhla, during January-March, 2004. The results showed that yardlong bean with the bio-extract solution, gypsum and the bioextractsolution + gypsum produced seed yield of 40.06, 31.41 and 29.55 kg./rai respectively, which were not different among the treatments but the three treatments were different from the chemical method whichproduced seed yield of 89.78 kg./rai. Regarding the yardlong bean seed quality, all four treatments had highquality with no significantly differences among the treatments. The seed dry weight ranged from 128.54-131.90 mg/seed, standard germination 97.00-98.00%, soil emergence 99.50-100%, speed of germination index 33.16-33.33, and conductivity 27.92-28.31 μmho/cm/gm. The seedling dry weights were not significantlydifferent, and ranged from 73.21-76.00 mg/seedling, except for the gypsum treatment which gave a weight of 67.98 mg/seedling.With accelerated aging, the treatment of bio-extract solution + gypsum had thehighest germination rate of 98.00%, which was significantly different from the bio-extract solution and gypsum treatments which had germination rates of 92.50 and 90.50%, respectively, and the chemical methodwhich had a germination rate of 93.50% was not different from other treatments