Nutrient management and its effect on growth, yield and quality of ginger cultivars

An experiment was conducted during 2010–11 at College of Horticulture, Mandsaur (M.P.) to study the effect of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium on growth, yield and quality of ginger cultivars. The experiment was laid out in a factorial, randomized block design with 16 treatments, comprising of two cultivars Akya Local (V₁) and Suprabha (V₂), two levels each of nitrogen (100 and 125 kg ha⁻¹), phosphorus (40 and 60 kg ha⁻¹) and potassium (40 and 60 kg ha⁻¹). The cultivar Akya Local was found better than Suprabha in terms of growth, yield and quality attributes. The growth attributes (length, diameter and number of rhizome fingres and fresh and dried yield of rhizomes) and quality attributes (fresh ginger oil, oleoresin and crude fiber content) were found to increase significantly with the higher level of fertilizers. The highest fresh rhizome yield (142.25 q/ha), fresh ginger oil (1.52%) and oleoresin (6.2%) and a maximum net profit of Rs. 6,20,108 ha⁻¹ with a B:C ratio of 4.87:1 was obtained with the application of 125 kg N + 60 kg P₂O₅ + 60 kg K₂O ha⁻¹ to Akya Local.