Compilation 1. Dr. A.K. Sarkar, Dean (Agriculture), 2. Dr. Rakesh Kumar, Associate Professor(Soil Science) and 3. Dr. S. Karmakar,Senior Scientist(Agronomy). 1. Project Title : Effect of Potassium Application on Yield of Vegetable crops. 2. Date of start : 10.6.2011 3. Date of Termination : 10.6.2014+ 4. Investigators : International Collaborator : Dr.Baladzhoti Tirugnanasotkhi Agronomist,IPI (ii) Principal Investigator : Dr. Rakesh Kumar Associate Professor, Department of Soil Science & Agril. Chem., BAU, Ranchi-6 (iii) Co-Principal Investigator : Dr. S. Karmakar Senior Scientist, Department of Agronomy BAU, Ranchi-6 (i) Co- Principal Investigator : Dr. A.K. Sarkar Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi-6 Location of the Project : Farmers field of Ranchi, Jharkhand 1. Name and Address of Chairman : Dr. R.P. Singh Deptt. of Soil Science and Agril. Chemistry B.A.U., Kanke, Ranchi-6 2. Total Financial outlay : 2,60,000/-(Rupees Two lakh sixty thousand) For 2011-12 3. Duration : Three years INTRODUCTION Potassium is basic to plant and animal life.Plants readily absorb available soil K.Once inside the plant,Potassium is mobile.It moves readily from older to younger tissue.That is why, deficiency symptoms of K usually appear on older leaves first. Excellent research work on soil status & crop response to Potassium was done in the PRII (India)-BAU collaborative research Project during 1982 -1995. This was followed by work in the PPIC (India Programme) sponsored research Project on Balanced fertilization of Crops. The crop response studies were carried out in farmers fields & on-station trials in Rice, Potato, Maize, Wheat, Ragi & Oilseeds. Keeping in view the importance of Vegetables & fruit crops in the state of Jharkhand , experiments in farmers fields have been undertaken under the collaborative research programme of International Potash Institute, Switzerland and Birsa Agricultural University, Jharkhand, India from June,2011. BACKGROUND INFORMATION The geographical area of Jharkhand is 7.9 million ha, out of which net sown area is 2.4 million ha. It is a food crop dominated area and 0.04 million ha of land is covered under vegetables. At present Jharkhand state is producing only 3.6 million tones of vegetables with an average productivity level of 15.5 t/ha which is less than productivity level of India (16.37 t/ha). The agricultural production meets only 56 per cent of requirement of 27 million people inhabiting in the state and per capita availability of vegetables of the state is only 298 g/day / person. Jharkhand has the potential for higher production of vegetable crops by adoption of improved management practices and soil health care. Among the major plant nutrients (NPK), potassium requirement in vegetables is fairly high as compared to the food grains and lack of K brings about a drastic change in production quality as well as shelf life. Soils of Jharkhand have been grouped under the orders light textured Alfisol,Entisol and Ultisol, having low base saturation (50-60%), acidic reaction (4.5 to 6.5 pH), high P fixing capacity (70 to 80%), poor organic matter content (2 - 5 g kg-1), poor water retention capacity (18-22% at FC) and low to medium is K. In K deficient soils both yield and quality of vegetables are poor. Inclusion of K is essential in the fertilization schedule for higher crop productivity. Fig-1 : Soil K Fertility Map of Jharkhand Table-1 : Available potassium status of soils of Jharkhand state. Available K status (% of the total geographical area) Area Name of district Medium Soil K fertility (00’ha) Low High above 180-280 <180 kg ha-1 >280 kg ha-1 kg ha-1 West 7182 30.9 57.3 10.9 Low to Medium Singhbhum East Singhbhum 3533 35.0 53.0 9.6 Low to Medium Saraikela 2725 27.4 64.8 5.5 Low to Medium Ranchi 7698 13.0 57.1 27.7 Low to Medium Simdega 3757 6.1 43.9 49.0 Low to Medium Gumla 5320 17.5 57.8 24.0 Low to Medium Lohardaga 1491 25.8 47.1 25.8 Low to Medium Latehar 3661 9.2 42.0 47.9 Low to Medium Palamu 5044 5.5 55.9 34.0 Low to Medium Chatra 3706 7.3 49.6 42.2 Low to Medium Hazaribag 5049 11.64 48.2 38.0 Low to Medium Kodarma 2410 22.0 32.8 44.1 Low to Medium Giridih 4941 19.2 43.7 36.0 Low to Medium Deoghar 2479 10.7 26.7 60.9 Low to Medium Dumka 4410 11.8 42.1 43.8 Low to Medium Godda 2110 25.5 58.6 14.1 Low to Medium Sahibganj 1600 26.6 41.2 24.3 Low to Medium Pakur 1805 25.1 46.3 26.6 Low to Medium Jamtara 1802 21.3 61.3 14.3 Low to Medium Dhanbad 2086 48.4 37.9 9.0 Low to Medium Bokaro 2861 21.5 57.9 16.7 Low to Medium Source:- NBSS and LUP, Kolkata and SSAC, BAU, Ranchi-2005 Table-2 : Recommendation of K application in Different Crop (Kg/ha) Name of Crops Dose of K Name of Crops Dose of K Cereals Vegetables Rice 20 -40 1. Tomato & Brinjal 50 Wheat 20 -40 2. Cabbage , Cauliflower, 60 Maize 40 Radish & Carrot Finger Millet 20 3. Pea,French bean, Cu- 40 Pulses 20 cumber, Sponge gourd Oil seeds 20 & Bottle gourd Soybean 40 Sugar Cane 60 Keeping in view the above facts, trails were started at farmers in the year 2011 (June). OBJECTIVES (i) To quantify the yield differences of vegetables with application of K. (ii) To standardize the method of K application (iii) To promote the K fertilizer use in vegetable crops through interaction with farmers. Experiments conducted during Kharif, 2011 Treatments : (i) FFP ( Farmer’s fertilization practices) (ii) 100% K (iii) 150% K (iv) 100% K-(½ basal + ½ topdressing) (v) 150% K –(½ basal + ½ topdressing) Note: Nitrogen & Phosphorous applied as per recommendation. Six farmers were selected in Pithoria village (Kanke block)and seven farmers in Ormanjhi block in the month of May 2011 (Table-3). Table-3 : List of Farmers with Area and Crops. Area Date of Name of Farmers Village Crop Variety sq mts. sowing Nakul Mahto Pithoria 304 Cabbage 30.7.2011 Jamuna Mannuwar Ansari Pithoria 300 Cabbage 30.7.2011 Jamuna Suresh Shah Pithoria 470 Cabbage 30.7.2011 Jamuna Abdul Rajak Ansari Pithoria 1620 Cabbage 30.7.2011 Jamuna Sagar Sahu Pithoria 300 Cauliflower 29.7.2011 Sweta Bharat Mahto Pithoria 954 Tomato 29.7.2011 Namdahri.Surakhcha Tomato, Kuchchu Suwarn Lalima,Ankur, Balak Mahto 8650 French bean 29.7.2011 (Ormanjhi) Golden(GS-10) and Pea Jeetlal Mahto Chakala 2500 Tomato 29.7.2011 Swarn Lalima Devki Mahto Chakala 2500 Tomato 29.7.2011 Swarn Lalima Rajeshwar Mahto Chakala 1500 Tomato 29.7.2011 Swarn Lalima Ramjatan Mahto Chakala 1000 Tomato 29.7.2011 Swarn Lalima Sandeep mahto Kuchchu 2500 Tomato 29.7.2011 Swarn Lalima Shankar Sahu Kuchchu 2000 Tomato 29.7.2011 Swarn Lalima Ahlad Mahto Chakala 2500 Tomato 29.7.2011 Swarn Lalima Soil samples were collected from different farmers fields to know initial soil fertility status. Majority of the soil samples were low to medium in Nitrogen and Potassium status whereas, phosphorous was high (Table-4). Nurseries for cabbage, cauliflower and tomato were raised on 7th and 8th July in Pithoria Village (Kanke block) and Ormanjhi block of Ranchi. Seedlings of Vegetables were transplanted on 29th and 30th July 2011, Crop was damaged due to heavy rainfall during the period of August. Again nursery of same vegetables were raised in the month of September , 2011 and seedlings were transplanted in the farmers fields. Table-4 : Initial Status of Sol fertility. Organic Available Available N Available K Name of Farmers pH Carbon P (Kg/ha) (Kg/ha) (g/kg) (Kg/ha) Shri Nakul Mahto 5.49 9.92 219.66 219.8 340.48 Md. Manuar Ansari 6.41 5.12 373.42 88.75 360.64 Shri Suresh Sah 6.71 9.12 238.49 196.56 480.0 Md. Abdul Rajak Ansari 5.19 4.64 180.86 80.92 210.56 Shri Sagar Sahu 4.85 4.16 204.70 80.92 322.56 Shri Bharat Mahto 4.81 4.96 198.60 168.0 175.54 Shri Balak Matho 4.96 3.94 179.86 35.0 225.12 Shri Jeetlal Matho 5.06 4.10 194.55 34.16 191.52 Shri Devki Matho 6.41 8.16 213.40 232.12 540.30 Shri Rajeshwar Matho 6.12 5.92 203.97 169.40 416.64 Shri Ramjatan Matho 5.45 6.24 254.20 119.28 71.68 Shri Sandeep Matho 5.43 5.12 257.32 75.6 127.68 Shri Shanker Sahu 5.21 5.76 241.63 164.36 277.76 Shri Ahlad Matho 5.32 6.15 278.61 71.60 121.36 Research Paper / Technical Bulletin Published on Potassium • Kumar, Basant, Roy, H. K. and Kumar, Ajay (1991).Critical • Roy, H. K. (1992). Ragi and Potassium, Tech. Bull, on ”small limit of potassium in a soil series. Journal of Indian Society of millets in Bihar plateau” retrospect and prospects, Department Soil Science, 39(3): 504-508 of plant breeding and genetics, B.A.U. ,Ranchi. • Lal, S., Mathur B. S. and Sinha, K. (1990).Effect of long term • Roy, H. K. and Kumar, Ajay (1993).Response of maize to fertilization, manuring and liming in Alfisol on maize,wheat potassium in soils of josol 2 series of Singhbhum.