Influence of mulching on soil moisture, organic carbon content and weed intensity in marigold

Introduction

Marigold belongs to "Asteraceae" family is called as 'poor man's crop'. It is widely accepted important flower since long back. The flowers are used for several purposes like religious, party and most of the festivals. Marigold flowers are available in attractive shapes and colours and sizes. Therefore. It is perfect for any garden decoration and also making garlands. Owing to a shorter cropping span and low care and investment, marigold is popular among flower growers. It is one of the most commercial flower among the loose flowers which is extensively used for religious and social functions (Patade et al., 2020) [6] . Various crop management practices are adopted for boosting the crop yield and among them mulching is a prominent practice. This can lead to increased flower yield and quality, making it a valuable technique, especially in water-scarce or hot climates. Various organic and inorganic mulches are used in agriculture. Mulching is the practice where the soil surface is covered with any organic or inorganic material for conserving the soil moisture and reducing the evaporation. It also helps in smothering the weeds. Marigold crop is generally weak competitor and suffer from heavy infestation of many annual weeds in early stages of growth. With this view, the present investigation was undertaken to assess the influence of mulching on soil moisture, soil organic carbon content and weed intensity in marigold.

Materials and Methods

The field experiment was conducted in rabi season of 2020-2021 at Research Farm of College of Horticulture, Dapoli, Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design (RBD) comprising four replications and six mulching treatments a Control (No mulch, T 1 ), Paddy straw (T 2 ), dry grass (T 3 ), glyricidia leaves (T 4 ), black polyethylene mulch (T 5 ) and silver polyethylene mulch (T 6 ). The flat beds having size of 4.2 m x 1.2 m were prepared by following preparatory tillage. The marigold (cv. Double Orange) seedlings were transplanted I the experiemtnal plots at the spacing of 30 cm x 45 cm in the evening hours. The organic mulches viz; Paddy straw, Dry grass, Glyricidia leaves were laid between the two rows of seedlings in such a way that it covers the area between two rows. The polythene mulch films of each colour i.e. black and silver cut in size of 4.2 m x 1.2 m and laid between two rows of seedlings in such a way that it cover all the area between two rows. The recommended cultural practices were unvaryingly followed for raising the crop. The observations on weed intensity were recorded at an interval of 30 days. The soil moisture and the organic carbon content in each plot were also analyzed in the laboratory. The collected data were analyzed (Panse and Sukhatme,1985) [5] .

Results and Discussion

The data presented in Table 1 with respect to the soil moisture revealed significant differences due to the various mulching treatment. The highest soil moisture (22.30%) was recorded in treatment T 5 (Black polythene mulch) and it was significantly superior to all other treatment. It was followed by T 6 treatment. The lowest soil moisture (16.70%) was registered in treatment T 1 (Control) and it was at par with T 4 treatment. From the present findings, it is clear that mulching treatments had the noteworthy effect on soil moisture conservation. The increased soil moisture percentage under mulch might be due to less evaporation from the soil and less penetration of light from soil surface. Mulches also prevent soil from compaction, reduce soil erosion and increase availability of water to plant (Chancellor, 1977) [1] . The less depletion of water through the plastic mulches causes less capillary movement of water molecules from soil pores increases water availability to root zones for healthy plant growth (Hochmuth et al., 2001) [3] . The results are analogous to the findings documented by Chaudhry et al. (2004) [2] and Sardar et al. (2015) [7] . The result pertaining to organic carbon content in the soil under marigold crop as influenced by the mulching treatments are presented in Table 1. From the data, it is seen that the organic carbon content was not varied significantly due to mulching treatments. However, it was in the range 0.49 to 1.24 per cent. The organic mulch has positive effect on organic carbon enrichment but this is a one season application of organic mulch to marigold crop. The similar results were also reported by Kokkeragadda et al. (2018) [4] . The data on weed intensity recorded at different stages of crop growth are presented in Table 2. The data pertaining to number of weeds indicate that there was significantly reduction in the weed population (Intensity) due different mulching treatments at every growth stage. At 30 days, the weed intensity in T 5 and T 6 (Black and silver polythene mulches) treatments was zero indicating no weed growth. However, among the rest of the treatments, the significantly least weed intensity (7.88 per m 2 ) was in T 4 treatment (Glyricidia leaves) followed by paddy straw (T 2 ) and dry grass (T 3 ). The maximum weed intensity (79.90) was registered in unmulched plants in treatment T 1 (Control). The intensity of weed was increased with advanced growth phase. At 60 DAT and 90 DAT, the significantly lowest weed intensity (1.27 and 2.16 per m 2 , respectively) was observed in T 5 treatment (Black polythene mulch). It was at par with the T 6 treatment indicating that polythene mulches are advantageous to check the weed growth in marigold cultivation. These treatments were followed by T 4 , T 2 and T 3 treatments. Whereas, the weed intensity was highest (83.75 per m 2 at 60 DAT and 86.58 per m 2 at 90 DAT) in control (T 1 ). It is perused that the use of mulch found effective to control the weed as the interspace between the plants is covered by the layer material which avoid the germination and successive growth of the weed. The beneficial effect of mulching was also reported by Sardar et al. (2015) [7] . Shalini and Patil (2006) [8] documented that polythene mulch was better than weedicide to control the weed.

Conclusion

From the present investigation it is inferred that the higher moisture conservation and low weed intensity was observed by using Black polythene mulch in marigold.

References

1. Chancellor WJ. Compaction of soil by agriculture equipment. Division of Agriculture Sciences, University of California bulletin. 1977;18-81.
2. Chaudhry MR, Malik AA, Sidhu M. Mulching impact on moisture conservation-soil properties and plant growth. Pak J Water Res. 2004;8:1-8.
3. Hochmuth GJ, Hochmuth RC, Olson OM. Polyethylene Mulching for Early Vegetable Production in North Florida. University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), Florida A &M University Cooperative Extension Program; 2001.
4. Kokkeragadda RB, Sumangala HP, Rupa TR, Sangama, Sujatha AN. Effect of Fertigation, Irrigation and Mulching on Growth, Flowering and Yield Parameter in African marigold. Int J Curr Microbiol Appl Sci. 2018;2319-7706.
5. Panse VG, Sukhantme PV. Statistical Methods for Agricultural Workers. New Delhi: I. C. A. R.; 1985.
6. Patade AA, Malshe KV, Pethe UB, Sagvekar VV. Influence of pinching on flower characters in different varieties of marigold (Tagetes spp). Int J Chem Stud. 2020;8(2):2194-6.
7. Sardar H, Gulzar A, Ahsan A, Kaleem N. Influence of mulching materials on soil conditions, weeds, plant growth and flower yield of Rosa centifolia. Int J Agric Sci. 2015;8:1.
8. Shalini M, Patil VS. Effect of integrated weed management practices on vegetative, reproductive and yield parameters in gerbera. Karnataka J Agric Sci. 2006;19(3):649-52.