EFFECT OF DIFFERENT NUTRIENT SOURCES ON FODDER YIELD, QUALITY AND SOIL FERTILITY STATUS OF LUCERNE GROWN SOIL
K. SATHIYA BAMA*
Department of Agronomy
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University,
Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu), India
*(e-mail : kssoilscience@gmail.com)
(Received : 01 December 2015; Accepted : 20 March 2016)
SUMMARY
An experiment was carried out during 2009-12 to study the impact of different nutrient sources on
yield and quality of lucerne (CO 1). The mean of three years data showed that poultry manure (PM) applied @ 2.1 t/ha+398 kg rock phosphate+2 kg rhizobium+2 kg phosphobacteria recorded statistically higher green fodder yield of 60.5 t/ha/year. Highest crude protein yield (3.46 t/ha) was observed in PM treatment, but the FYM recorded higher crude protein content (24.3%). The higher nutrient uptake was recorded in organics applied treatment rather than inorganics. The INM applied soil recorded higher SOC of 0.80 per cent. The same treatment recorded higher available N, P and K content. Though inorganics recorded higher net returns, among the organics the PM applied plot recorded net returns of Rs. 95,865 with high B/C ratio of 3.7.
Key words: Lucerne, FYM, poultry manure, fodder yield, crude protein, soil nutrients