Browsing by Author "Latif, P H"

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Drought management for sesame in Onattukara
(Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 1998) Jyothi S Mani; Latif, P H
A microplot and a field trial were conducted at the Rice Research Station, Kayamkulam in the summer rice fallows during 1996 -97 to standardise the effective methanol dose and its time of application and to evaluate the effects of the selected dose of methanol along with varying levels of coirpith incorporation and seed hardening treatments on the performance of sesame var. Kayamkulam-I in Onattukara tract. The two experiments were laid out in completely randomised design and strip - split plot design with two and three replications respectively. The first experiment had treatments comprising of seven levels of methanol and three times of application along with an absolute control. The treatments in the second experiment included three levels each of coirpith and seed hardening treatments and four levels of methanol. The initial experiment revealed that the methanol application is well accepted by the crop. The growth characters, physiological parameters and yield attributing characters and crop duration were greatly enhanced by application of methanol dosages ranging from 20 per cent to 30 per cent concentration, during the flowering stage which is the most metabolically active stage of the crop. Thus the concentrations, 20 and 30 per cent of methanol at flowering stage was adopted in main field experiment. In the main field, the crop responded to incorporation of coirpith, seed hardening and methanol application. The biometric characters like plant height, number of leaves and branches per plant, precarious flowering, total DMP, shoot - root ratio, root characteristics and yield attributing characters like number of capsules per plant, capsule yield were significantly augmented by the incorporation of 10 t ha-1 of coirpith soon after the harvest of second crop of rice. The above said parameters provided the maximum value with 20 per cent methanol level and seed hardening in water compared to other levels. These treatments enhanced the vegetative growth of the plants and facilitated early 'commencement of the reproductive phase thus enabling a significant reduction in crop duration by 6-7 days. The seed yield was remarkable when coirpith was incorporated at the rate of 10 t ha-1 and 20 per cent methanol spray was given to foliage at flower initiation period. The crop was favorably influenced by seed hardening in water. The uptake of N, P and K by the crop also followed improved. The relative leaf water content was highly regulated by both the coirpith levels (10 t ha-1 and 20 t ha-1) and seed hardening in water. The spraying of 20 per cent solution of methanol also recorded high leaf water content. The bulk density and soil water content were found highly depended on coil-pith levels. The application of both levels of coirpith increased soil moisture content decreased the bulk density significantly. The values of both the parameters registered comparable effect of these levels. The biochemical analysis high proline content with treatments comprising of no coirpith. Seed hardening in water indicated high proline accumulation in plant tissues. The seed hardening in water also resulted in high content of chlorophyll in leaves. The organic carbon content of soil was greatly augmented by coirpith application, but both the levels gave comparable values. The available N, P and K contents of the soil after the experiment indicated higher nutrient status with addition of organic amendments to the soil. The outcome of economic analysis revealed that the net returns and benefit-cost ratio was maximum by incorporation of coipith at the rate of 10 t ha-1, seed hardening in water and providing foliar spray of 20 per cent methanol at flowering stage.
Integrated crop management of rice under system of rice intensification (SRI)
(Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2014) Asha Sasi; Latif, P H
The present investigation on “Integrated crop management of rice under System of Rice Intensification (SRI)” was conducted at Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, Vellayani during 2012-2013 for evaluating the efficacy of integrated input management for increasing the soil, crop and water productivity of transplanted rice grown under SRI in an economically viable mode. The experiment was laid out in Factorial RBD with seven treatments and three replications. The treatments consisted of two levels of seed priming, viz, primed seeds (P1) and non primed seeds (P2), three levels of fertilizer combinations viz, RFD of N, P and K @ 90-45-45 kg ha-1 as fertilizers (F1), RFD of N, P and K @ 90-45-45 kg ha-1 as combination of vermicompost to supply 30 kg N equivalent and rest as chemical fertilizer (F2) and seventy five per cent of RFD of N, P and K @ 67.5- 33.75 -33.75 as combination of vermicompost to supply 30 kg N equivalent and rest as fertilizer (F3) and standard check (conventional flooded transplanted rice at 20 cm x 10 cm spacing following POP recommendations). The results of the investigation are summarised below. The growth attributes like tillers hill-1 at panicle initiation stage, LAI, RGR, root length and total dry matter production were not significantly influenced by the treatment priming but it significantly influenced the root dry matter production. Grain yield was significantly influenced by seed priming treatment. The other yield attributes like productive tillers hill-1 and m-2, mean panicle weight, mean number of grains panicle-1, mean number of spikelets panicle-1 and straw yield were not significantly influenced by seed priming. Fertilizer combinations had significant influence on growth attributes like tillers hill-1 at panicle initiation stage, latent tillers at flowering stage, root DMP and total DMP. Yield attributes like number of productive tillers hill-1 and m-2 and mean number of spikelets panicle-1 were significantly influenced by fertilizer combinations. Fertilizer combination F1 produced significantly higher number of productive tillers hill-1 and m-2. The treatment combination p1f1 recorded highest value for growth attributes like LAI, root DMP and total DMP. For yield and yield attributes like productive tillers hill-1 and m-2, mean number of spikelets panicle-1 and grains panicle-1 p1f1 recorded highest value. Also p1f1 recorded highest grain yield. The net return and B: C ratio was the highest in p1f1. There was 23.3 per cent savings (2449 m3 ha-1) in the water requirement of the crop under SRI. Nutrient supply in SRI can be successfully practiced economically with chemical fertilizers. Source integration for nutrient supply (fertilizers+ vermicompost) did not give any additional yield advantage, but was costlier. Seed priming in combination with N, P and K at level of RFD is advantageous as it yielded the highest B: C ratio of 1.62 compared to 1.25 for conventional transplanting. Water productivity in SRI (0.84 kg m-3) was 175 per cent of that of conventional method (0.48 kg m-3). However soil productivity was not favorably influenced as prolonged soil exposure contributes to higher soil acidity problems. From the study it can be concluded that SRI method of rice cultivation can significantly increase rice productivity, profitability and water productivity over conventional method of transplanting.
Performance of summer crops in rice fallows and its effect on succeeding transplanted rice
(Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2009) Shrikant P Golabhavi; Latif, P H
A field experiment entitled “Performance of summer crops in rice fallows and its effect on succeeding transplanted rice” was taken up at the Cropping systems research station, Karamana, Thiruvananthapuram during February 2008 to October 2008 that covered the summer (third crop) and virippu (the first crop) seasons of rice cultivation. The main objectives of the experiment was study the performance of different upland crops in the summer rice fallows of southern Kerala in terms of resource utilisation, yield, soil health and carry over effect on succeeding rice crop, and to arrive at a sound practice of summer rice fallow utilization. The experiment was laid out in a randomised block design with three replication and seven treatments (T1 - Control or summer rice fallow, T2 - Sweet potato, T3 - Pumpkin, T4 - Sesamum, T5 - Amaranthus, T6 – Cowpea and T7 - Daincha) which were followed by rice crop in the virippu season. Al the crops were raised as par the KAU package of practices recommendations. Results of the study revealed that there was a significant variation in the composition of weed flora of summer crops and the succeeding rice crop. The associated weed species of summer crop also varied significantly. Cowpea (T6) being grown on pandal had no weed separation effect and hence had the higher WDMP and SDR. Amaranthus (T5) recorded the highest economic yield and rice yield equivalent, water productivity, net profit and B:C ratio. However, sweet potato (T2) recorded the highest energy yield per unit area and highest nutrient uptake of macro and micro nutrients. The nutrient balance sheet showed a general negative balance for N and P except for sweet potato (T2) and Daincha (T7) where as K showed a negative balance for all treatments. The succeeding rice crop was not significantly influenced by the summer crops with respect to yield and yield attributes. The post rice soil was left less acidic by pumpkin-rice sequence, where as Daincha-rice significantly increased the soil acidity. The post rice soil significantly varied in the available P and K with the highest value noted in Amaranthus-rice (T5). Significantly higher quantity of Zn was recorded in Daincha-rice (T7).
Soil test based fertilizer recommendation for ozhalapathy watersheds
(Kerala Agricultural University, 1993) Durga Devi, K M; Rajan, K C; Latif, P H