Poultry manure and bulking agents effects on the nutrient uptake and yield of onion

Abstract

Abstract : An experiment was conducted to evaluate the use of poultry manure with bulking agents in onion cultivation. The onion cultivar '“TaherpurP* was grown under six different treatments using either poultry manure alone or with different bulking agents namely, sawdust, ash, wheat husk, rice husk and black gram busk./J'he experiment was laid out in a RGB design with three replications. The plots were fertilized with 115, 40 and 75 kg ha1 ofN, P and K. as urea, triple super phosphate (TSP) and muriate of potash (MP). respectively. Fifty-day old healthy onion seedlings were transplanted with the spacing of 20 cm x 15 cm. Different treatment combinations revealed significant variations on dry matter, bulb diameter, single bulb Weight, and yield and nutrients accumulation of onion. Among the treatment combinations, the highest bulb yield (13.1 t ha1) was obtained from the application of poultry manure with saw dust followed by poultry manure with ash mixture. Maximum nutrient accumulation was recorded when- poultry manure was applied with sawdust follow'cd by poultry manure with ash. It may be concluded that application of poultry manure in combination with sawdust, or ash might be used as fertilizer for onion cultivation.