MSc

The study on “Liquid formulations for production of organic oriental
pickling melon (Cucumis melo var. conomon L.)” was carried out in College of
Horticulture, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara, Thrissur during 2013-
2014. There were two experiments viz. Effect of seed treatment with liquid
formulations on germination and seedling vigour in oriental pickling melon and
Evaluation of liquid organic manures on growth and yield of oriental pickling melon.
The seeds treated with liquid organic manures showed better results in all
observations such as germination percentage, length of radicle, length of plumule, dry
weight, fresh weight and vigour index. The treatments receiving Panchagavyam+
Pseudomonas, Beejamrutham+ Pseudomonas, Panchagavyam and cow dung slurry
were superior in early germination and seedling growth.
The second experiment consisted of 11 treatments including different
combinations of organic manures and supplements and package of practices
recommendation by KAU. Saubhagya variety of oriental pickling melon was used for
the study. The organic manures viz. poultry manure, coir pith compost, ground nut
cake, neem cake and liquid organic manures viz. Jeevamrutham, Panchagavyam, Fish
amino acid, Green leaf extract and Liquid extract of composite organic manures were
the sources of nutrients. All the treatments except T
were given basal and top
dressing applicaton of organic manures as per the Package of practices
recommendations (Adhoc) for organic farming : Crops. Seeds except in T
9
were
treated with (Panchagavyam+ Pseudomonas) and have shown early germination and
seedling vigour.

Growth parameters like length of vine, number of leaves, dry matter
production were significantly influenced by the treatments. The treatment receiving
Fish amino acid recorded the highest length of vine (114.16cm) and number of leaves
(37.66). Early flowering and harvesting could be achieved in Fish amino acid (22.66
9
and 50.66 DAS respectively) treated plots. Jeevamrutham treated plants had the
highest dry matter production of 96.4g.
Yield and yield attributes like number of fruits per plant, mean fruit weight,
volume of fruit and yield per ha were also significantly influenced by the application
of different liquid organic formulations. Highest number of fruits per plant (3.83) and
weight of fruits (2.5 kg/plant), volume of fruit (770 cm
3
) and yield per ha (30.33 t/ha)
were observed in Jeevamrutham and Panchagavyam treated plots.
With regard to the soil microbial count at different intervals of crop growth,
the treatment receiving liquid extract of composite organic manure resulted in highest
fungal population meanwhile Jeevamrutham had the highest bacterial and
actinomycetes population . All the micro organisms were minimum in the treatments
receiving Package of Practices recommendations of KAU. With regard to microbial
count in liquid formulations the highest fungal and bacterial count was recorded in
Panchagavyam followed by Jeevamrutham. NPK content was more in liquid extract
of composite organic manure followed by fish amino acid. Kendall's test by ranks of
the acceptability score revealed that there was significant variation among the
treatments in the quality attributes of fruits. The highest score for appearance, texture,
taste and colour was noticed in the treatment receiving Jeevamrutham followed by
Panchagavyam and Fish amino acid. The overall acceptability was also more for the
fruits from the organically treated plots. The treatment receiving Jeevamrutham was
found to be significantly superior to other treatments in getting higher gross income,
net return and B: C ratio followed by Green leaf extract and Panchagavyam.