Effect of Water Hyacinth Media on Yield and Nutrient Uptake of Amaranthus (Amaranthus tricolor L.)

K.R.  AISWARYA; V.S. DEVI

doi:10.54894/JISCAR.43.1.2025.156192

Authors

K.R. AISWARYA Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, Kerala Agricultural University, Padannakkad - 671 314, Kerala, India
V.S. DEVI Regional Agricultural Research Station, Kerala Agricultural University, Kumarakom - 686 563, Kerala, India

https://doi.org/10.54894/JISCAR.43.1.2025.156192

Keywords:

water hyacinth, hydroponics, open water culture , amaranthus, yield, Nutrient uptake

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out at the Farmer’s field in North Kuttanad (Kerala, India), during two consecutive seasons, first in June-July and second in August-September of 2023 to evaluate the efficiency of water hyacinth as media for Amaranthus cultivation. The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with six treatments and four replications. The treatments were T₁: Open water culture without medium; T₂: Open water culture with medium; T₃: Hydroponics without medium; T₄: Hydroponics with medium; T₅: Land cultivation with water hyacinth bed alone as medium; and T₆ - Control: soil culture. The nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were found to be higher in water hyacinth followed by Hoagland solution whereas, open water had the lowest nutrient concentration initially as well as during different stages of plant growth. The plant nutrient contents at different growth stages and yield of Amaranthus varied significantly due to treatments. The plant nutrient content was higher in T₆, followed by T₅. The yield was significantly higher in T₆ (17.21 and 17.14t ha^-1), which was on par with T₅ (16.82 and 16.04 t ha^-1) during the two consecutive seasons. The water hyacinth media was found to be rich in nutrients with 3363 and 3167.75 ppm nitrogen; 1211 and 1178.5 ppm phosphorus and 3275.5 and 3202 ppm potassium; in season 1 and 2 respectively. The maximum net income and benefit cost ratio (BCR) were obtained in the treatment T₅ (2.6), followed by T₆ (2.05). Therefore, water hyacinth media was found to be as effective as soil cultivation in terms of yield and plant nutrient content as well as profitability in Amaranthus cultivation.

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