Nutrients application and their effect on health of planting stock and the nutrient uptake in Albizia chinensis merr.

Abstract

Albizia chinensis merr. is nitrogen fixing shade tree species and beneficial to tea, cocoa and coffee crops. It can also be interspersed with bananas where it probably acts as a partial wind break and increases humidity. The stock quality of the species is poor. Apart from this, there is no recommendation for raising the planting stock with integrated use of fertilizers. All these affect its prospects in the field. The study was conducted to standardize the integrated dose of organic manure and inorganic fertilizers for getting the quality planting stock of the species. The eleven treatments by integrating farm yard manure (FYM), nitrogen and phosphorus were applied in the polybags raised stock. The experiment was conducted in the completely randomized block design. Effect of combined doses of FYM, nitrogen and phosphorus at the rate of 10 t/ha, 60 kg/ha, 50 kg/ha, rspectively produced the highest germination (56.30%) and seedlings shoot (30.75 cm) and root length (36.43 cm), number of leaves (8.22), leaf area (105.50 cm²), shoot (3.17 g) and root weight (3.82 g) and stock quality index (0.81). FYM x nitrogen x phosphorus interaction resulted in significant change in NPK contents and their uptake. F₃N₃P₂ and F₃N₃P₃ interaction combination produced the seedlings with the highest nitrogen (2.82%) and phosphorus contents (0.124%). Whereas, F₃N ₃P₃ interaction registered the maximum potassium (1.28%) and NPK uptake (N:131.50; P:8.01 and K:70.27 mg/plant) in A. chinensis seedlings.