Integrated Nutrient Management on the Yield and Nnutrition of Medicinal Glory Lily (Gloriosa superba L.) in a Coastal Soil

Abstract: The productivity of crops in coastal soils are low owing to salinity, poor organic matter, nutrient availability, leaching, etc, Alternate land use involving the cultivation of medicinal plants has a greater scope of improving farm income due to increasing demand and export potential. One field experiment was carried out in a farmer’s field in coastal sandy soil which was analyzed for pH 6.74 and EC 1.52 dS m -1 . The soil had an organic carbon content of 0.32 percent and available nutrient status was low in N and medium in P and K. The treatments evaluated were T 1 – Absolute Control, T 2 – Recommended NPK, T 3 – FYM alone @ 12.5 t ha -1 , T 4 – Humic acid alone @ 20.0 t ha -1 , T 5 – 75 % NPK + FYM @ 12.5 t ha -1 , T 6 - 75 % NPK + Humic acid @ 20.0 kg ha -1 , T 7 - 50 % NPK + FYM @ 12.5 t ha -1 , T 8 – 50 % NPK + Humic acid @ 20.0 kg ha -1 , T 9 – T 5 + ZnSO 4 @ 25 kg ha -1 + Panchakavya foliar spray, T 10 – T 6 + ZnSO 4 @ 25 kg ha -1 + Panchakavya foliar spray , T 11 – T 7 + ZnSO 4 @ 25 kg ha -1 + panchakavya foliar spray and T 12 – T 8 + ZnSO 4 @ 25 kg ha -1 + Panchakavya foliar spray. The experiment was carried out in Randomised Block Design with three replications. The medicinal plant Gloriosa superba was grown as a test crop. The results of the field experiment indicated the beneficial effect of INM treatments in increasing the growth and yield of Glory lily. Among various treatments evaluated, T 10 - 75 percent NPK + ZnSO 4 @ 25 kg ha -1 + Humic acid 20 kg ha -1 + Panchakavya foliar spray accounted for higher plant height ( 148.5 ), number of branches ( 5.32 ), number of pods per plant ( 179 ) and seed yield ( 21.24 g plant -1 ). This treatment also significantly increased the major nutrient N, P, and K content in haulm and seed of Glory lily.