Impact of NPK on the Ecophysiological Attributes of Thespesia populnea
R. Jude Sudhagar
DARS, Chettinad, TNAU, India.
C. Cinthia Fernandaz *
ICAR-KVK-The Nilgiris, TNAU, India.
S. Vennila
AC and RI, Thiruvannamalai, TNAU, India.
S. Manivasakan
ICAR-KVK-The Nilgiris, TNAU, India.
Th. S. Robin
TNAU, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of different levels of NPK on the performance of Thespesia populnea. A total of 17 treatments consisted of four levels of Nitrogen (50, 75, 100 and 125 g N plant-1), two levels each of Phosphorus (50 and 75 g P plant-1), and Potassium (25 and 50 g K plant-1) were tried in RBD replicated three times, to standardize the fertilizer schedule for the tree crop taken for investigation. The experimental soil was red sandy loam, non-calcareous, neutral in reaction, low in available nitrogen, phosphorus and medium in available potassium with low organic carbon content. Ecophysiological parameters viz., photosynthestic rate (A), transpiration rate (E), stomatal conductance (gs) and Intercellular CO2 concentration (CINT). Growth attributes were influenced by N, P and K at different levels. Among the various treatments application of 100 : 75 : 50 g NPK plant-1 (T12) significantly influenced the growth attributes followed by 100 : 75 : 25 g NPK plant-1 (T11).
Keywords: Ecophysiological attributes, Thespesia, randomized block design, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO2 concentration