Effect of higher levels of fertilizer doses on yield and nutrient uptake of Brinjal in lateritic soils of Konkan region

Introduction

Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) from the family Solanaceae having highest production potential it is also termed as poor man's vegetable. The British name of brinjal is Aubergine. Brinjal accounts for around 6.62 percent of total vegetable acreage in India and 6.34 percent of total vegetable production Anonymous, (2022a). India is the world's second-largest producer of brinjal after China. In India, the area under brinjal cultivation is 764.55 thousand hectares, with a production of 12607.36 thousand tonnes and a productivity of 16.49 MT ha -1 . West Bengal is the leading producer, with 3027.75 tonnes produced and a 23.69% share of total output. Maharashtra, on the other hand, produced 429.91 tonnes, accounting for 3.36% of total production followed by Odisha, Bihar, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh Anonymous, (2018). In Maharashtra, the area under brinjal cultivation is 19.09 thousand hectares, with an annual yield of 320.57 thousand tonnes and a productivity of 16.79 MT ha -1 Anonymous, (2023). Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli, Pune, Ahmednagar, Nashik, Jalgaon, Nagpur, Chandrapur and Amravati are the major brinjal growing districts in Maharashtra. Konkan is the western coastal strip of Maharashtra with an area of 29,79,000 hectares (2.979 M ha -1 ). It is flanked by the Western Ghats (Sahyadri) on east and Arabian Sea on the west. The region is traditionally famous as homeland for the commercial cultivation of world-famous Alphonso mango. Crops like groundnut, maize, brinjal and watermelon have been undertaken to observe their performance under various cultivation practices in the lateritic soils of Konkan region Syeda, (2022) [15] . The soils of Konkan region, particularly in South Konkan are lateritic type of soils which are acidic in nature and medium to low in major nutrient fertility status. In India fertilizer is one of the most vital and expensive agricultural input. Its use rapidly increasing day by day in proportion to food grain production and it has been and will continue to be a valuable part of attaining the country's planned food grain production target. However, the imbalanced application and use of fertilizer have affected soil health and fertility. The generic fertilizer recommendation of crops results in under or over fertilization, lowering production and profitability while also polluting the soil and also environment. Therefore, soil testing is necessary for rapid determination of the available nutrient status of soil, interpreting test results and formulating fertilizer recommendations based on crop responses and economic factors Dwivedi et al., (2015) [5] .

Material and Methods

The experiment was conducted at Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry farm, Dr. BSKKV., Dapoli. The soil of the experiment site was medium in available nitrogen (312 kg ha - 1 ), low in available phosphorus (22 kg ha -1 ) and high in available potassium (296 kg ha -1 ). The brinjal crop used for the trial in rabi season of the year 2025-26 in lateritic soils of Konkan region. The research trial was laid out in fractional factorial RBD having three fertility gradient strips (L 0 , L 1 and L 2 ) which was divided into 21 treated plots and 3 control plots. The levels of fertilizers used for brinjal were urea, single superphosphate (SSP) and muriate of potash (MOP) and details regarding it elaborated in Table 1. The field layout was prepared having 24 plots and each plot having gross size of 4 x 3.20 m 2 and net size of 3.70 x 2.80 m 2 . The fertility gradient strips divided into 3 levels of FYM such as F 0 (0 t ha -1 ), F 1 (10 t ha -1 ) and F 2 (20 t ha -1 ). The brinjal variety Konkan Prabha was used as the main test crop. Healthy seedlings of uniform size were transplanted in each plot at a spacing of 60 cm × 45 cm and recommended cultural packages of practices were followed. After harvest, brinjal fruit yield was recorded and plant samples were collected of all the 24 plots for estimation of total nutrient content and uptake separately for each plot. The nutrient uptake was computed from the total dry matter production and the percentage content of nutrients in the plant and fruits. Fresh plant samples from each plot and a part of the fruit sample were weighed. The samples were air-dried and then ovendried at 65°C to a constant weight. The samples were analysed by standard methods for the nutrient content at harvest. The total uptake of N, P and K was computed from the nutrient contents and dry weights of plant parts and expressed as kg ha⁻¹. The analytical methods used for measurement of uptake of N by Micro-Kjeldahl method, P by Vanado-molybdate method and K by Flame photometry method by Tandon (1993) [16] . Nutrient uptake for macronutrients (kg ha⁻¹)

Nutrient uptake (kg ha -1 ) = Nutrient content (%) × Yield (kg ha -1 ) 100

Results and Discussions Brinjal fruit yield

The yield in the L 0 strip ranged from 113.10 to 202.7 q ha⁻¹ in the treated plots, with a mean of 178 q ha⁻¹, whereas the control plots ranged from 103.5 to 96.6 q ha⁻¹, with a mean of 99 q ha⁻¹. The L 1 strip recorded treated-plot yields from 126.40 to 275.1 q ha⁻¹, with a mean of 214 q ha⁻¹, while the control plots ranged from 112.40 to 114.2 q ha⁻¹, with a mean of 114 q ha⁻¹. The L 2 strip recorded treated-plot yields from 137.3 to 226.9 q ha⁻¹, with a mean of 226 q ha⁻¹, whereas the control plots ranged from 90.5 to 91.8 q ha⁻¹, with a mean of 88 q ha⁻¹ as given in Table 2.

The brinjal fruit yield showed strong response to the different nutrient treatment levels. The treatment wise yield data showed a clear advantage of fertilized treatments over the absolute control plots. The yield details are elaborated in the Table 2. The consistent yield advantage of the T 1 and T 2 blocks over T 0 illustrates the well-documented synergism between organic and inorganic sources of nutrients in yield production. The increase in fruit yield might be attributed to improvement in growth of plant which in turn led to higher production. Similar results were obtained by Jilani et al. (2009) [7] , Alvaro et al. (2017) and Rangaiah et al., (2024) [11] . in brinjal, Singh et al. (2025) [13] . on for wheat and Deshmukh et al., (2011) [6] . in Bt cotton.

Nutrient uptake

The total nutrient uptake computed from nutrient content and dry matter yield. The details regarding the uptake values are demonstrated in Table 3. The applied treatments contents higher doses of nitrogen and other primary nutrients because of which the brinjal responded with higher yield and production and this led to higher uptake of nitrogen at higher level. The build-up in uptake with increasing FYM level recorded in the present lateritic soils corroborates the findings of Sultana et al., (2021) [14] . for brinjal grown under a comparably nutrient-enriched organic amendment regime. Similar observations matched with Patil et al., (2026) [9] . on rabi onion. An increase in nitrogen content and uptake with combined application of FYM and inorganic nitrogen were reported by Murthy et al. (2024) [8] . The comparatively low but fertilizer responsive phosphorus uptake pattern recorded here is consistent with the high P-fixing capacity of lateritic soils reported by Raut et al. (2024) [12] . Potassium is one of the dynamic nutrient under soils of Maharashtra. Based on the soil temperature and other factor its availability and uptake vary and the characteristically high potassium uptake by brinjal recorded in the present study is in agreement with Pradeepa et al. (2024) [10] .

Conclusion

From the present findings it can be concluded that the levels of fertilizer doses and FYM significantly increased the brinjal fruit yield, effectively achieved the highest productivity and the total nutrient uptake increased in the treated plots as compared to the control plots in the lateritic soils of Konkan region of Maharashtra.

References

1. Álvaro HC, Souza D, Rezende R, Lorenzoni MZ, Seron CDC, Hachmann TL, Lozano CS. Response of eggplant crop fertigated with doses of nitrogen and potassium. Rev Bras Eng Agríc Ambient. 2017;21:21-26.
2. Anonymous. National Horticulture Board. Horticulture statistics at a glance. New Delhi: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India; 2018.
3. Anonymous. Government initiatives for horticulture development. New Delhi: Government of India; 2022.
4. Anonymous. Selected statewise area, production and productivity of brinjal in Maharashtra. IndiaStat; 2023.
5. Dwivedi BS, Tiwari RK, Pandey AK, Tiwari BK, Thakur RK. Economically viable STCR based nutrient management on soybean (Glycine max). Econ Aff. 2015;60(2):225-228.
6. Deshmukh SV, Kudtarkar US, Gaikwad SP, Patil KB. Yield and nutrient uptake of Kharif Bt cotton as influenced by conjoint use of FYM and chemical fertilizer. Adv Res J Crop Improv. 2011;2(1):115-120.
7. Jilani MS, Bakar A, Waseem K, Kiran M. Effect of different levels of NPK on the growth and yield of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) under the plastic tunnel. J Agric Soc Sci. 2009;3:99101.
8. Murthy RK, Nagaraju B, Govinda K, Uday Kumar SN, Basavaraja PK, Saqeebulla HM, Dey P. Soil test crop response nutrient prescription equations for improving soil health and yield sustainability-a long-term study under Alfisols of southern India. Front Plant Sci. 2024;15:1439523.
9. Patil VS, Margal PB, Patil KB, Thakare R, Todmal SM, Kamble BM. Fertiliser prescription for Rabi onion by soil test crop response approach with vermicompost and bio-fertiliser in Inceptisols. Indian J Fert. 2026;22(2):1219.
10. Pradeepa M, Bagavathiammal U, Priyanka SS, Kanagasuppurathinam C. Development of integrated fertilizer prescription based on STCR-IPNS for brinjal through inductive cum targeted yield model in Mannadipet soil series of Puducherry, India. Int J Plant Soil Sci. 2024;36(11):72-82.
11. Rangaiah KM, Nagaraju B, Shankaraiah SK, Kasturappa G, Kadappa BP, Sugatur Narayanaswamy UK, Dey P. Enhancing yield, uptake and nutrient use efficiency of brinjal through soil test crop response approach. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal. 2024;55(7):998-1014.
12. Raut AR, Wahane MR, Khobragade NH, Thorat SB, Rajemahadik VA, Dodake SB. Impact of NPK fertilizer levels on soil properties and potassium fractions in lateritic soil of coastal Maharashtra. J Indian Soc Coastal Agric Res. 2024;42(2):122-128.
13. Singh VK, Gautam P, Sen S. Soil test crop response-based fertilizer application improves soil fertility and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) productivity grown after directseeded rice in Mollisols of northern India. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal. 2025;56(12):1767-1789.
14. Sultana M, Jahiruddin M, Islam MR, Rahman MM, Abedin MA. Effects of nutrient enriched municipal solid waste compost on soil fertility, crop yield and nutrient content in brinjal. Eurasian J Soil Sci. 2021;10(3):191-198.
15. Syeda NS. Periodical changes in nutrient status under different cultivation practices and various crops in Alfisols of Konkan region [master's thesis]. Dapoli: Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth; 2022.
16. Tandon HLS, editor. Methods of analysis of soils, plants, water and fertilizers. New Delhi: Fertilizer Development and Consultation Organisation; 1993.