Effect of spacing and organic manure on growth and yield of Indian spinach (Basella rubra L.)

Introduction

Indian spinach (Basella rubra L.) commonly known as poi, mayalu, belongs to the family Basellaceae which is also popular as summer leafy vegetable. It is also known as Malabar, Ceylon, East-Indian, Surinam and Chinese spinach (Facciola, 1990) [3] . Indian spinach is a fleshy, twining much branched herb with alternate leaves. Leaves are broadly ovate and pointed at the apex. Flowers are white or pink, small sessile in cluster on elongated thickened peduncles in an open branched inflorescence. Fruit is enclosed in fleshy perianth. It is fast growing perennial plant, however, cultivated as an annual for home gardens and as a cash crop to some extent. It is an easy growing plant propagated by seed, root or long tip cuttings. B. rubra is commonly grown for its leaves and young shoots, which are high in Vitamin A, B 9 , C, iron and calcium (Grubben and Denton, 2004) [4] . The protocol required for its commercial cultivation viz. spacing, manures and fertilizers etc.

have not yet been studied. Hence, considering the importance of these aspects the present investigation was taken on Indian spinach at College of Horticulture, Dapoli, Ratnagiri (Dist.) during the summer and kharif season to determine optimum spacing and suitable organic manure in order to have maximum vegetative growth and higher yield.

Materials and Methods

A field experiment was conducted at Experimental field of College of Horticulture, Dapoli. Dist. Ratnagiri during rabi season. The experiment was designed to study the effect of spacing and organic manure on growth and yield performances of Indian spinach. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design with three replications having 12 treatment combinations. The treatments comprised of the combination of three different spacing viz., S 1 (50 × 30 cm), S 2 (50 × 45 cm) and S 3 (50 × 60 cm) as main plot treatments and b) organic manure treatments viz., M 1 (FYM @ 10 t/ha + 100:50:50 kg/ha NPK), M 2 (vermicompost @ 5 t/ha), M 3 (poultry manure @ 4 t/ha) and M 4 (Neem cake @ 2 t/ha) as sub-plot treatments. Seeds were sown at different spacing as per the treatments i.e. in S 1 plot (50 × 30 cm), S 2 plot (50 × 30 cm) and S 3 plot (50 × 30 cm), After emergence of seedling, other intercultural operations like weeding, irrigation were followed as per recommendation for better growth and development of the plant. The observations were recorded on growth and yield parameters and data was analysed by using the standard methods as described by Panse and Sukhatme (1995) [9] .

Results and Discussion

The effect of spacing on the plant height of Indian spinach was found to be significant. The treatment S 3 (51.05 cm) recorded significantly highest plant height whereas, the lowest plant height was recorded in S 1 (47.59 cm). The highest plant height with wider spacing might be due to low plant population per unit area which resulted in optimum space available for proper plant growth as well as availability of nutrients, light, soil moisture and aeration available for plant growth. The similar results were also reported by Rashid et al. (1981) in kangkong, Ahbasdokht et al. (2003) [1] in amaranth, Bairagi (2014) [2] in fenugreek and Islam et al. (2014) [6] in Indian spinach. A significant variation was observed on plant height in organic manure. The highest plant height was recorded in M 1 (50.64 cm) followed by M 3 (49.99 cm) whereas, the lowest plant height was recorded in M 4 (47.00 cm). The highest plant height was recorded in M 1 might be due to higher availability of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to the plants initially through inorganic fertilizers and through FYM fulfilling the needs of plant throughout the cropping season. The interaction effect on plant height was found to be significant. The highest plant height of Indian spinach was recorded in S 3 M 1 (53.35 cm) whereas, the lowest was recorded in S 1 M 4 (46.26 cm) which was at par with S 2 M 4 (46.32 cm). The highest plant height was found with treatment combinations S 3 M 1 (50 × 60 cm along with FYM @ 10 t/ha + 100: 50: 50 kg/ha NPK) might be due to favourable combination effect of higher spacing along with inorganic fertilizer and FYM.

The treatment S 3 (16.78 mm) recorded significantly highest stem diameter whereas, the lowest stem diameter was recorded in S 1 (14.02 mm). The highest stem diameter with respect to spacing was recoded in wider spacing 50 × 60 cm might be due to low plant population with results in optimum space available for plant growth as well as availability of nutrients, light, soil moisture and aeration. A significant variation was observed on stem diameter in organic manure. The highest stem diameter was recorded in M 1 (17.63 mm) whereas, the lowest stem diameter was recorded in M 4 (13.66 mm). The highest stem diameter reported in application of FYM @ 10 t/ha + 100:50:50 kg/ha NPK might be due to optimum availability of essential nutrients. Further, the beneficial role of FYM in improving physico-chemical as well as biological property of soil which resulted in favourable condition for absorption of essential nutrients by plants. This might be attributed to multifarious role of FYM and NPK in supply of nutrients as well as improvement in physical, chemical and biological environment of soil. Finally, it was reflected in better growth of plant with FYM. The interaction effect on stem diameter was found to be significant. The highest stem diameter of Indian spinach was recorded in S 3 M 1 (19.86 mm) whereas, the lowest was recorded in S 1 M 4 (12.44 mm).

Number of leaves

The highest number of leaves were observed in S 2 (52.61) and the lowest number of leaves were recorded in S 1 (48.33).

The highest number of leaves were recorded in optimum spacing S 2 whereas, the lowest were observed in S 1 i.e. closer spacing. The highest number of leaves were recorded in optimum spacing might be due to number of leaves remarkably accelerated under optimum spacing and relatively least competition exerted between crop plants which important role in enhancing the vegetative growth resulting higher number of leaves. The plants grown with optimum spacing 50 × 45 cm received higher amount of light, nutrient, water thus attaining more height along with more number of leaves per plant and the reverse happened to plants grown with closer spacing i. e. S 1 (50 × 30 cm). It is evident from the data the effect of organic manure on number of leaves of Indian spinach was found to be significant. The highest number of leaves were recorded in M 1 (55.59) whereas, the lowest number of leaves were recorded in M 4 (45.62). It was noticed that the number of leaves were recorded highest with M 1 i. e. application of FYM @ 10 t/ha + 100:50:50 kg/ha NPK might be due to higher availability of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to the plants initially through inorganic fertilizer along with FYM, as well through fulfilling the needs of plant throughout the cropping season. The interaction effect of spacing and organic manure showed significant variation on number of leaves. However, the highest number of leaves were recorded in S 2 M 1 (58.18) and the lowest were recorded in S 1 M 4 (43.07). The higher number of leaves were recorded with treatment combinations S 2 M 1 (50 × 45 cm spacing along with FYM @ 10 t/ha + 100:50:50 kg/ha NPK) might be due to favorable combination effect of spacing and organic manure on number of leaves of Indian spinach.

Number of branches

The highest number of branches were observed in S 2 (12.47) and the lowest number of branches were recorded in S 1 (9.41). The highest number of branches with respect to spacing was recorded in optimum spacing 50 × 45 cm might be due to optimum plant population with results in optimum space available for plant growth as well as availability of nutrients, light, soil moisture and aeration. Similar results with respect to spacing obtained by Islam et al. (2014) [6] , in Indian spinach. It is evident from the data the effect of organic manure on number of branches of Indian spinach was found to be significant. The highest number of branches were recorded in M 1 (11.72) whereas, the lowest number of branches were recorded in M 4 (10.79). The highest number of branches reported with application of FYM @ 10 t/ha + 100:50:50 kg NPK/ha might be due to optimum availability of essential nutrients (both major and minor). Further, the beneficial role of FYM in improving physico-chemical as well as biological property of soil which resulted in favourable condition for absorption of essential nutrients by plants. This might be attributed to multifarious role of FYM and NPK in supply of nutrients as well as improvement in physical, chemical and biological environment of soil. Finally, it was reflected in better growth of plant with FYM.The interaction effect of spacing and organic manure showed significant variation on number of branches. However, the highest number of branches were recorded in S 2 M 1 (12.74) and the lowest were recorded in S 1 M 4 (8.77). [7] in spinach. Among the different organic manure tried under present investigation there was significant effect on total herbage yield per hectare of Indian spinach. The highest total herbage yield per hectare (23.05 t) was recorded with treatment M 1 and it was found significantly superior over rest of the organic manure levels. However, the lowest total herbage yield per hectare (17.85 t) was found in M 4 . The highest total herbage yield per hectare was recoded with application of FYM @ 10 t/ha + 100:50:50 kg/ha NPK might be due to higher availability of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to the plants initially through inorganic fertilizers along with FYM fulfilling the needs of plant throughout the cropping season. Similar results with respect to organic manure obtained by Padmanabha et al. (2009) [8] in Palak and Hashimi et al. (2019) [5] in spinach. This might be attributed to multifarious role of FYM and NPK in supply of nutrients as well as improvement in physical, chemical and biological environment of soil. Finally, it was reflected in better growth of plant with FYM. The highest total herbage yield per hectare (31.72 t) was recorded with treatment combination S 1 M 1 and it was found significantly superior over all treatment while, S 3 M 4 recorded the lowest total herbage yield per hectare (12.20 t). The highest total herbage yield per hectare was recoded in S 1 M 1 might be due to higher plant population further, with respect to organic manure the highest total herbage yield per hectare reported with M 1 can be attributed to higher availability of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to the plants initially through FYM as well through inorganic fertilizers fulfilling the needs of plant throughout the cropping season.

Conclusion

Based on the present investigation, it may be concluded that the treatment S 1 (50 × 30 cm) was found to be the most profitable with respect to different spacing whereas, for the higher yield organic manure FYM @ 10 t/ha +100:50:50 kg/ha NPK was economically best. Considering the interaction effect of different spacing and organic manure the treatment S 1 M 1 (50 × 30 cm with manure FYM @ 10 t/ha +100:50:50 kg/ha NPK was found to be most profitable for obtaining higher yield.

References

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