Growth and nutrition of black pepper as influenced by decaying litter materials in soil

Abstract

An investigation on the growth and nutrition of black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) as influenced by decaying litter materials in soil was conducted at the College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara. The black pepper variety Panniyur – 1 was invariably used for the study. Biomass production in black pepper was significantly increased following the incorporation of organic materials into the soil compared to the control vines. When the different levels of organic sources were compared, total biomass production of the vine decreased at highest level (3 per cent) of application of coffee and black pepper leaves. This was attributed to allelopathic effect of the decaying material. There was a steady increase in biomass production with increasing level of garuga leaf application. Significant increase were noticed in the N ,P and K concentrations of leaf and stem, Mg concentration of leaf, S concentration of leaf and stem, Fe content of stem and foliar Mn content of the vine following the organic matter treatments as compared to control vines. The vine removed significantly higher quantities of N, p, K, Ca, Mg, S, Fe and Mn following the soil application of leaf materials as compared to the control vines. The average nutrient removal by a six – month – old black pepper vine to produce 11.19 g of shoot dry matter was 200.19 mg N, 18.92 mg P, 432.53 mg K, 155.89 mg Ca, 19.44 mg Mg, 12.33 mg S, 1517 µg Fe and 3546 µg Mn. The contribution of leaf to the total nutrient removal was more compared to that of stem. Significant increases in major and micronutrient availability in soil were noticed following the incorporation of leaf materials. On an average, the rate of organic carbon loss in laboratory incubation was the slowest in soil with coffee or silver oak leaves as the organic source and was fastest when the garuga was the organic source. The half – life values for organic carbon was the organic source. The half – life values for organic carbon loss varied from 91 – 193 days. The half – life values obtained for coffee, erythrina and black pepper leaves in field decomposition study were 40, 44 and 53 days respectively.