Growth and Yield of Spinach (Spinacea olearacea) Grown in Fly Ash Amended Soils

The present investigation was carried out to explore the feasibility of using fly ash to grow Spinacea olearacea L. in fly ash amended soil. Fly ash is an unavoidable byproduct of coal burning in coal based industries and till date there is no technology available for disposal of fly ash in an environment friendly and safe manner. Application of fly ash in agriculture is one of the many ways of fly ash utilization. For this experiment, fly ash-soil mixture in 8 concentrations viz. 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 75% and 100% were filled in clay pot of 25 cm diameter. The growth parameters (root and shoot length, fresh weight and dry weight of shoot and root, leaf area), physiological parameters (total photosynthetic area, chlorophyll ‘A ’and ‘B ’, total chlorophyll content) and yield parameters (total length of inflorescence, mean number of branches per inflorescence, percent seed germination) were recorded at 130 days after sowing. The growth and physiological parameters were increased apparently upto 20% fly ash levels and maximum increase in all these parameters occurred at 20% level. In yield parameters, the percent seed germination showed an increase of 29.90% respectively at 20% level of fly ash. The total length of inflorescence per plant and mean number of branches per inflorescence showed an increase of 54.07% and 79.91% respectively at 20% level of fly ash. It was found that all the data showed better response at 20% level of fly ash. So fly ash can be recommended in a small dose to Spinacea olearacea for better growth and yield.