Effect of Enriched Organic Manures and Bio-Enhancer on Quality, Soil Attributes and Nutrient Uptake in Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis)

Background: The extensive use of chemical fertilizers to boost vegetable production has been acknowledged, but its long-term consequences on soil health, ecology and other natural resources are detrimental. These effects extend to beneficial soil microorganisms and human beings. Therefore, there is a need of organic resources for plant nutrition.

Methodology: An experiment was carried out during rabi season, 2020 at College Farm, College of Horticulture, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Jagudan, Dist. Mehsana, Gujarat. It was laid out in randomized block design with factorial concept with three replications comprised of two factors viz., different organic manures with six level i.e., 80% RDN through FYM (o1), 80% RDN through Poultry manure (o2), 80% RDN through Vermicompost (o3), 60% RDN through FYM (o4), 60% RDN through Poultry manure (o5) & 60% RDN through Vermicompost (o6) and bio-enhancer with two level i.e., NPK consortium @ 5 lit/ha (f1) and Ghan-Jeevamrut @ 250 kg/ha (f2).

Results: Among different application of organic manures, 80% RDN through Vermicompost performed significantly superior over other treatment with respect to TSS (7.07 oBrix), chlorophyll a (62.31 mg/100g), chlorophyll b (24.78 mg/100g), total chlorophyll content (87.09 mg/100g), available N (236.16 kg/ha), P (36.12 kg/ha) and K (361.07 kg/ha) in soil, N uptake (67.90 kg/ha), P uptake (8.46 kg/ha) and K uptake (61.74 kg/ha) by plant. Among different bio-enhancer, NPK consortium @ 5 lit/ha was found significantly superior with respect to chlorophyll b (24.00 mg/100g), total chlorophyll (83.10 mg/100g), organic carbon (0.36%) in soil, N uptake (63.61 kg/ha), P uptake (7.79 kg/ha) and K uptake (59.60 kg/ha) by plant. However, the interaction effect of both organic manures and bio-enhancer has found non-significant in terms of quality, soil attributes and nutrient uptake.