Effect of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers Co-Applied with Effective Microorganism (EM) on Growth and Yield of Spinach (Spinachia olerace)
Effect of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers Co-Applied with Effective Microorganism (EM) on Growth and Yield of Spinach (Spinachia olerace)
Salma Shaheen, Muhammad Jamil Khan, Saleem Jilani
ABSTRACT
A two years pot experiment was conducted using loamy textured soil to study the effect of organic manure and complex chemical fertilizer (NPK) with or without effective microorganism (EM) on the agronomic performance of spinach crop, at Gomal University D.I. Khan during 2009- 11. A commercial product called Bio-Aab was used as a source of EM. Organic manure was first mixed with Bio-Aab, left for 7 to 15 days at room temperature (20oC) and then applied to appropri- ate pots. The treatments of farm yard manure (FYM) @ 10 t ha-1, press mud @ 20 t ha-1, compost @ 0.7 t ha-1 and poultry manure @ 5 t ha-1 were applied with half of the recommended dose of NPK @ (75:60:30 kg ha-1) with or without EM. In 2009-10, the application of EM with Press mud @ 20 t ha-1 significantly enhanced spinach growth by exhibiting higher average spinach plant height (35 cm), number of leaves (16.4), fresh foliage yields (330 g pot-1), dry foliage yields (32 g pot-1), leaf length (40.5 cm) and leaf area (238.4 mm2) relative to poultry manure, compost or FYM treatments. Similar trend was observed during 2010-11. Over all, press mud with EM was more effective in improving soil quality and enhancing spinach growth and quality followed by FYM and poultry manure. These results suggested that Press mud applied with EM have the most potential to increase yield and quality of spinach. Our results also suggest of taking integrating approach by applying organic wastes with readily available source of chemical fertilizer to minimize the risk of reduced plant growth due to immobilization and with EM to enhance mineralization of organic nutrients, therefore warrant testing under field conditions.
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