1. Effect of NPK 16-16-16, poultry-mushroom waste compost and their combinations on growth and yield of okra.
- Author
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SHANLIAN QIU, SHAOPING ZHANG, YUNFA YAO, YIXIN LIN, SHUANGSHUANG LIN, and KAIBIN ZHENG
- Subjects
OKRA ,PLANT yields ,PLANT growth ,COMPOSTING ,FLOWERING of plants - Abstract
A pot experiment was conducted to study the effects of poultry-mushroom waste compost (PMWC), NPK 16-16-16 (NPK) and their combined applications on vegetative growth and yield of okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench] during June-November 2014. The experiment included nine treatments: Unfertilized control (T
1 ), NPK 2.5 g/kg (T2 ), NPK 5 g/kg (T3 ), NPK 10 g/kg (T4 ), NPK 2.5 g/kg+PMWC 120 g/kg (T5 ), NPK 5 g/kg+PMWC 120 g/kg (T6 ), PMWC 60 g/kg (T7 ), PMWC 120 g/kg (T8 ) and PMWC 240 g/kg (T9 ). Results showed that all fertilizations increased growth and yield of okra compared with no fertilization. 10 g/kg NPK (T4 ) greatly inhibited the growth of plant height before 30 days after sowing (DAS) and leaf growth before 15 DAS, with maximum numbers (19.17) of flowers and minimum fruit-setting rate (35.26%). 5 g/kg NPK combined with 120 g/kg PMWC (T6 ) advanced maximum growth rate of plant height and most greatly enhanced early flowering. T9 with 240 g/kg PMWC obtained maximum numbers (9.83) of fruits. Individual applications of NPK (T2 , T3 and T4 ) significantly promoted more fallen leaves and higher defoliation ratio at 90 DAS over other treatments and decreased the fruit-setting rate as increasing NPK levels. Individual applications of PMWC increased plant height, leaf number and fruit number with increasing PMWC levels. As mentioned above, application of 240 g/kg PMWC is recommended in south-eastern China for its highest yield, low cost of production and maintenance of soil fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2016
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