Organic Treatments in Lemongrass

Preamble

Lemongrass, is a perennial herb widely cultivated in the tropics and subtropics. The reported adaptation zone for lemongrass is 18 to 29oC with an annual precipitation of 0.7 to 4.1 meters with a soil pH of 5.0 to 5.8. Since the plants rarely flower or set seed, propagation is by root or plant division. The plants are harvested mechanically or manually about four times each year with the productive life span between four and eight years. In the present experiment, the crop was harvested after 90 days of planting.

Table 5.2: Effect of organic treatments on yield attributes and yield of lemon grass at first cut

T1= FYM @20t/ha + vermicompost @15t/ha & Panchang; T2= T1 + biopesticide; T3= T1 + Agnihotra ash; T4= T1 + Bt & Himbio; T5= T1 + BD 500; T6= Control + Panchang; T7= FYM @20t/ha + vermicompost @15t/ha & Non Panchang; T8= T7 + biopesticide; T9= T7 + Agnihotra ash; T10= T7 + Bt & Himbio ; T11= T7 + BD 500; T12= Control + Non Panchang

Discussion

There was a significant increase in the yield attributes viz plant height, number of leaves and plant spread and ultimately the yield of lemon grass increased with the addition of organics over the control. Highest biological yield (78.33 q ha-1) was obtained in the treatment T3 (Organic manure + Agnihotra ash + Panchang sowing) while lowest yield (28.33 q ha-1) was obtained in T12 (control + Non Panchang sowing). Of all the treatments where organics were added T3 (Org. manure + Agnihotra ash + Panchang) was the best which was closely followed by T9 (Org. manure + Agnihotra ash + Non Panchang) treatment. The third best treatment was T5 (Biodynamic BD500 + Panchang).

Conclusions

To sum up, it has been clearly demonstrated in this experiment that in aloe vera, addition of Agnihotra ash was significantly superior to other organic treatments. It significantly affected the growth and yield attributes of all the crops.

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