Yield of small cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum M) variety PV۱ as influenced by levels of nutrients and neem cake under rain fed condition in southern western ghats, India.

his paper seeks to understand the influence of different levels of fertilizer nutrients on annual yield of cardamom in Cardamom Hill Reserves (CHR) under rain fed situation. Field experiment conducted at CRS, Pampadumpara during ۱۹۹۴-۲۰۰۲ on nutrient levels with sources revealed that increasing the levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium had increased the yields of cardamom up to ۱۲۵: ۱۲۵: ۲۰۰ kg ha-۱. Application of fertilizer nutrients at the present level of recommendation (۷۵: ۷۵: ۱۵۰ kg NPK ha-۱ yr-۱) in the form of urea, single super phosphate and muriate of potash along with ۰.۵ kg neem cake per plant had not increased the yield significantly over the control. Application of fertilizer nutrients at the rate of ۱۲۵: ۱۲۵: ۲۰۰ kg ha-۱ yr-۱in two splits (just before and after summer monsoon) increased the yield significantly under Pampadumpara rainfall climatology. Among N, P and K, it appears that K is the most important as indicated by a larger absolute value than that of N and P. Therefore application of fertilizer K is a must to increase the cardamom yield in CHR system. However, rainfall during summer months and number of rainy days had pronounced effect on the production of cardamom. Among rainy seasons (SWM, NEM and SR), SR played significant role in increasing the cardamom yield. Higher than the average SR (۳۶۶mm) followed by SWM (۱۱۶۲mm) found to influence the yield significantly. The reason for the higher yield by summer rainfall could be due to increased growing season soil moisture which is essential for the growth and panicle initiation and subsequent development of flowers and capsule setting. The recent all India droughts have very little influence on the rainfall climatology of cardamom hill reserves during the period of South West monsoon and therefore the yield was not affected by all India droughts but the summer months? rainfall and its distribution.   REFERENCES Goswami, N.N. ۱۹۹۸. Some thoughts on the concept, relevance and feasibility of IPNS under Indian conditions. In Integrated Plant Nutrient Supply system for sustainable productivity. Acharya C L et al. (ed). Indian Institute of soil science, Bhopal. pp. ۳-۹. Jackson, M.L. ۱۹۷۳. Soil chemical analysis. Prentice Hall, Inc., USA. Juo, A.S.R. and Wilding, L.P. ۱۹۹۶. Soils of the low land forest of the West and Central Africa. In Essays on the ecology of the Guinea-Congo rainforest, Proceedings Royal Society of Edinburgh. Vol. ۱۰۴B, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. pp. ۱۵-۲۶ Kerala Agricultural University (۱۹۹۶) Package of Practices of crops. Kerala Agricultural University press, Thrissur, Kerala, India Korikanthimath, V.S., Hiremath, G.M. and Hosmani, M.M. (۲۰۰۰). Requirement of labour in the mixed cropping system of coconut and cardamom and its relationship with productivity levels. Crop Research ۲۰, ۵۲۰- ۵۲۴. Korikanthimath, V.S. ۱۹۸۹. Annual Report. National Research Center for Spices (NRCS), Calicut. pp.۳۳-۳۴. Lui, X. ۱۹۹۹. Perspective of food security in China. Major technical changes. In World food security and crop production technologies tomorrow. (ed) Horic, T., Geng, S., Imamura, T and Suiraiwa, T., Kyoto University, Kyoto. pp. ۴۱-۴۷.  Moench, M. ۱۹۹۱. Soil erosion under a successional agro-forestry sequence: A case study from Idukki District, Kerala, India. Agro forestry systems. ۱۵, ۳۱-۵۰. Murayama, N.۱۹۸۲. Conquest of Law of diminishing returns. Yokendo, Tokyo. ۱۳۹-۱۸۶. Murugan, M., Miniraj, N. and Carmelrani, J. ۲۰۰۰. Changes in climatic elements and their impact on production of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum M) in the cardamom hill reserves of Idukki district, Kerala. J. Spices and Aromatic Crops: ۹, ۱۵۷-۱۶۰.  Murugan, M., Josephrajkumar, A., Sheela, B., Vasanthakumar, K. and Ambikadevi, K. ۲۰۰۵. Essential oil profile of elite small cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum M.) accessions and their interaction with thrips (Sciothrips Murugan et al., ۲۵ cardamomi Ramk.) infestation. Indian Perfumer. ۴۹, ۲۱۹-۲۲۳. Panse, V.G. and Sukhatme, P.V. ۱۹۶۷. Statistical methods for agricultural workers, ICAR Publications, New Delhi. Saith, N and Slingo, J. ۲۰۰۶. The role of the Madden-Julian Oscillation in the El Nino and Indian drought of ۲۰۰۲ Int.J. Climatol. ۲۶, ۱۳۶۱-۱۳۷۸. Sanchez P.A. ۱۹۷۶. Properties and management of soils in the tropics. John Wiley and Sons, New York, USA. Sunderashwar, P.V., Morris, J.T., Koepfler, E.K. and FornWalt, B. ۲۰۰۳. Phosphorous limitation of coastal ecosystem processes. Science ۲۹۹, ۵۶۳-۵۶۵. Swaroop, A. and Ganeshamurthy, A.N. ۱۹۹۸. Emerging nutrient deficiencies in intensive cropping systems and their remedial measures. Fertliser news ۴۳, ۳۷-۵۰. Van Wabeke, A. ۱۹۹۱. Soils of the Tropics: Properties and Appraisal. McGraw-Hill, New York, USA.

کلیدواژه ها:

Cardamom ، neemcake ، nutrient levels ، Rainfall ، tropical evergreen forest ، Yield