Effects of Basal Application of Mulch and Foliar Spray of Sargassum wightii Extract on Certain Vegetable Crops


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Authors

  • P. Kaladharan
  • T. V. Sathianandan
  • S. J. Edison
  • T. S. Shahana
  • P. Vysakhan

https://doi.org/10.56093/ft.v56i1.86508

Keywords:

Seaweed manure, foliar spray, value added mulch, Bacillus infantis

Abstract

A liquid fertilizer for foliar spray as well as a dry
seaweed mulch for soil application have been
prepared from Sargassum wightii and was evaluated
on-farm for okra and cowpea in three farmers’
fields. Among the two crops tried, Cowpea responded
better than Okra on basal application of
Sargasssum mulch as well as foliar spray of its
extract especially on the number of fruits per plant
and wet weight of fruits. Mulching Sargassum
powder to the base of okra and cowpea (T1)
increased the root biomass significantly (p<0.05),
255% increase in organic carbon content in soil and
895% increase in soil microflora over the control.
Foliar spray of Sargassum extract (T2) increased the
number of leaves in both the crops and remarkably
increased the number of pods, wet weight of pods
and finally the yield in Cowpea than mulching (T1).
In Okra foliar spray resulted a marginal increase
only in wet weight of fruits. When the Sargassum
mulch was mixed with two strains of bacteria
(CMSS-1 and CMSS-4) associated with the decaying
Sargassum thallus and later identified through 16s
rRNA sequence analysis as Bacillus endophyticus
with a similarity score of 98% and Bacillus infantis
with a similarity score of 99%, the mulch became
more effective and could assimilate in soil faster.
Considerable increase in number and the fresh
weight of fruits in Brinjal were also observed due
to the value addition in the mulch.

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Submitted

2019-01-25

Published

2019-05-15

How to Cite

Kaladharan, P., Sathianandan, T. V., Edison, S. J., Shahana, T. S., & Vysakhan, P. (2019). Effects of Basal Application of Mulch and Foliar Spray of Sargassum wightii Extract on Certain Vegetable Crops. Fishery Technology, 56(1). https://doi.org/10.56093/ft.v56i1.86508
Citation