Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

INFLUENCE OF VARIOUS LEVELS OF POTASSIUM AND SULPHUR ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF GARLIC (ALLIUM SATIVUM L) UNDER WESTERN MAHARASHTRA CONDITIONS

A.R. Wakhare, V. Sankar, S.A. Hiray and D.T. Desai

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out at the Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research (DOGR), Rajgurunagar, Pune (Maharashtra), during rabi season of two consecutive years (2011-2012 and 2012-2013). The main objective of this experiment was to standardize the optimum level of potassium and sulphur for improving growth and yield of garlic. The experiment consisted four levels of potassium (0, 50, 75 and 100 kg ha-1) and four levels of sulphur (0, 20, 40 and 60 kg ha-1) and their combinations were laid out in factorial randomized block design with three replications. The higher plant height at 90 DAP (53.95 and 52.37 cm), number of leaves per plant at 90 DAP (12.73 and 12.40), neck thickness at harvest (0.73 and 0.68 cm), equatorial diameter (34.93 and 33.97 mm), polar diameter (30.16 and 29.05 mm), number of cloves per bulb (23.41 and 22.47), bulb weight (18.92 and 17.86 g), total yield (87.94 and 81.80 q ha-1) and marketable yield (85.11 and 78.60 q ha-1) were observed with 100 kg potassium and 60 kg sulphur ha-1 respectively. From yield maximization and with regards to economics, combined application of potassium at 100 kg K2O ha-1 and 60 kg S ha-1 recorded the highest net return of Rs.2, 42,448.48 ha-1 and B: C ratio of 2.72.