Impact Of Teak Leaf Litter Addition On Yield Of Kasturi Bhindi And Soil Fertility Under Teak Based Agroforestry System

An experiment was conducted to see the impact of teak leaf litter addition on yield of Kasturi Bhindi at Agroforestry Research Farm, College of Agriculture, Nagpur. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with ten treatments consisting of various levels of teak leaf litter combined with cow dung and biodecomposer. The study revealed that the teak leaf litter and cow dung addition along with PDKV bio-decomposer significantly affected the yield of Kasturi bhindi. Treatment of 5 t ha ⁻¹ teak leaf litter + cow dung @ 50% teak leaf litter + bio-decomposer (T₇)recorded significantly higher fresh and dry foliage yield (139.02 q ha⁻¹ and 20.34 q ha⁻¹) as well as seed yield (18.91 q ha ⁻¹). The lowest values for EC were recorded with T₄ teak leaf litter @ 7.5 t ha⁻¹ EC (0.11 dS m⁻¹) after the harvest of the Kasturi bhindi. The highest organic carbon (6.53 g kg⁻¹) was recorded with application of 7.5 t ha⁻¹ teak leaf litter in treatment T ₄ while available N, P (17.89 kg ha⁻¹) and K (359.14 kg ha⁻¹) were recorded higher in T₇ with application of teak leaf litter @ 5 t ha⁻¹ + cow dung @ 50% of teak leaf litter + bio-decomposer. The population of bacteria after harvest of crop ranged from 84.36 × 106 cfu g⁻¹ to 86.88 × 106 cfu g⁻¹. Significantly highest count of fungi was recorded in treatment T10 with application of teak leaf litter @ 7.5 t ha⁻¹ + cow dung @ 50% of teak leaf litter (15.18 × 105 cfu g⁻¹). The study revels that incorporation of teak leaf litter, cow dung and bio-decomposer may increase yield of Kasturi Bhindi as well as soil fertility.