M Sc

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.