Impact of Organic Inputs on Growth and Yield in Cashew (Annacardium occidentale L.)

Cashew (Annacardium occidentale L.) being emerged as one of the most important dollar earning plantation crops having very significant role to play in Indian economy, hence there is need for producing organic cashew for export purpose. In order to address the challenge, the present investigation of use of organic inputs in cashew was carried out at AlCRP on cashew(OUAT), Odisha, India. Eight treatments of different organic inputs including recommended dose of fertilizers and FYM as control were used by adopting RBD, replicated thrice. Invariably, integrated application of fertilizers and manures, as control, recorded significantly maximum plant height (4.88 m), canopy diameter (7.69 m), canopy surface area (46.57 m²), ground coverage by canopy (95.04%), flowering laterals panicle⁻¹ (m²) (20.06), nut weight (8.27g) and nut yield (906.61 kgha⁻¹) than rest of the treatments. Among the sole application of organic inputs, T₇, i.e; 25% N as FYM + Recycling of organic residue + In situ green manuring/green leaf manuring + Bio-fertilizers @ 200g proved to be better to provide good growth and nut yield in cashew.