Browsing by Author "Lincy Davis, P"

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Crop weather relationship studies in bitter gourd
(Department of Agricultural Meteorology, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1996) Lincy Davis, P; Balakrishna Pillai, P
An experiment was conducted during 1995 – 96 at the College of Horticulture, Vellenikkara to find out the optimum date of sowing and to study the crop – weather relationship in bitter gourd, variety mc –84. The experiment was laid out in randomised black design with 3 replications. The treatments consisted of twelve dates of sowing starting from April 15th, 1995 and ending in March, 15th, 1996. For each and every treatment one control plot was maintained. The biometric observations of the crop growth characters, flowering and yield attributes were taken at different stages of development of the crop. The observations on the incidence of pests and diseases were recorded from the control plots. The observations on weather elements were recorded daily. October sowing was significantly superior to others with regard to number of female flower production, number of fruits, fruit set, fruit length girth, weight and yield. The crop weather relationship studies showed that the temperature range during 45 to 65 DAS and sunshine hours during 40-60 DAS were positively correlated with both total yield and number of female flowers per plant while minimum temperature during 45-60 DAS and mean relative humidity during 45-70 DAS were negatively correlated with both total yield and number of female flowers per plant. Crop sown during September, October and November were free from the attack of Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coq.). While Eudioptes indica (Saund.) occurred throughout the year. Mosaic disease incidence was severe in crops sown during June. But September sown crop was free from diseases.
Micrometeorological modification with mulches to enhance the yield of Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.)
(Department of Agricultural Meteorology, College of Agriculture,Vellanikkara, 2021) Abin Divakaran, A; Lincy Davis, P
Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) is one of the most important rhizomatous spices, belonging to Zingiberacea. It is an annual herbaceous plant native to tropical SouthEast Asia. Turmeric has high medicinal properties and it is wildly used in pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries. Due to the high value of the crop, it is getting good demand all over the world. India is one of the largest producer and consumer of turmeric around the world. In India turmeric is mainly planted in the hot summer months and grown as a rainfed crop, but due to the drastic changes in the agroclimatic conditions its production is influenced detrimentally. Mulching is an important cultural practice in turmeric, which helps to maintain an optimum microclimatic condition, reduce weed growth, add organic matter and conserve moisture throughout the high evaporative periods. Due to these changing climatic conditions assessment of an effective date of planting and finding a most suitable mulching practice are required for the effective production of turmeric. Hence, the goal of this study is to determine how planting dates and micrometeorological modifications with mulches affect turmeric yield. Turmeric variety Kanthi was raised in Plantation Crops and Spices farm, College of Agriculture, KAU, Vellanikkara with four different dates of planting (1st May, 15th May, 1 st June and 15th June) and four different mulching treatments (white polythene mulch, black polythene mulch, paddy straw mulch and green leaf mulch). The experiment was laid out in split plot design with four dates of planting as main plot treatments and four mulching practices as subplot treatments. Crop weather analysis was done by using SPSS software and crop yield prediction model was developed with the help of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and regression analysis. The total crop period was divided into four phenophases (P1-planting to germination, P2-germination to initiation of active tillering, P3-initiation of active tillering to bulking, P4- bulking to physiological maturity). The days to reach each phenophases were different in every date of planting. May 1st planting took more days to reach 100 per cent germination and to reach physiological maturity both 1st and 2nd dates of plantings took more time. The plant biometric characters like plant height, number of leaves, leaf area, number of tillers and dry matter accumulation were found to be more in earlier dates of planting (May 1st and May 15th) in almost all the time. In mulching practices paddy straw mulch was superior and it was followed by green leaf mulch. The yield produced by May 1st and May 15th dates of planting were on par and in case of mulching treatments paddy straw mulch produced superior yield than any other mulching practice. In mulching treatments polythene mulches recorded more soil temperature and moisture content than organic mulches in almost all the time. The first phenophase of 1st date of planting recorded high maximum, minimum and soil temperature along with less rain fall and rainy days. This might have influenced the late emergence of turmeric. The increase in maximum temperature, wind speed, sunshine hours and evaporation reduced the plant height in third phenophase. Soil moisture content and relative humidity inside the plant canopy showed a positive correlation with yield, whereas soil temperature showed a negative correlation with yield during the bulking stage of turmeric. The decrease in maximum temperature, bright sunshine hours, wind speed and evaporation and the increase in the minimum temperature, forenoon and afternoon relative humidity and rainfall during bulking stage enhanced the yield in turmeric. The development of yield prediction model with principal component analysis of mulching treatments and dates of planting of four phenophases were done and the yields of turmeric crop with these equations were predicted. This showed that, the predicted yield was in accordance with the observed yield in all mulching treatments.