Study on Plant Population for Maximising Marketable Leaf and Minimising the Incidence of Phytophthora Foot Rot in Magahi Pan

The present experiment was conducted at Betelvine Research Centre, Islampur, Nalanda under AICRP on MAPs and Betel vine project during three consecutive years 2010-11 to 2012-13 with four plant density treatments (T1-1.25, T2-1.50, T3-1.75 and T4- 2.0 Lakh Vine ha-1). Experimental result showed that all the plant population treatments had a significant effect on growth and yield of Magahi Pan during all the three consecutive years of the experimentation. The plant population density of 1.50 Lakh Vine /ha exhibited higher no. of branches per vine (14.70 vine-1), maximum vine elongation (10.03 cm/month) and more fresh weight of leaves (219.79 g/100 leaves) though number of leaves per hectare was obtained with higher plant population of 1.75 and 2.0 Lakh vine /ha but fresh weight was reduced as a result of reduction in leaf size due to dense population. However, plant density of 1.5 Lakh Vine/ha resulted in the significant effect on marketable leaf yield (22.05 Lakh/ha) with a lower incidence of Phytophthora foot rot disease (8.62%) in comparison to higher plant density treatment and farmers practice.