Studies on nutrient management of bird's eye chilli under rubber based agroforestry system

Influence of organic manures and biofertilizers on growth of intercrop under different aged plantations in agroforestry system is lacking. Therefore, a field experiment on influence of age and practices on rubber and nutrient management of intercrop on growth parameters of bird's eye chilli (BEC) under agroforestry system was conducted in Soraba taluka of Shivamogga District, Karnataka, India during two successive years (2018 to 2019). In one year old and two year old rubber plants farm yard manure (FYM) was applied as organic input and NPK as inorganic practice and nine treatments consisting of different organic manures and biofertilizers combinations were applied on BEC grown as an intercrop. The results showed that practices followed on rubber had significant influence on some of the growth parameters of BEC for both years studied. The BEC plants treated with combined application of FYM, Azotobacter and phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) registered highest in all growth parameters of BEC as compared to the rest of the treatments. Thus, combined use of FYM, Azotobacter and PSB on BEC under organic practice on rubber at two year old rubber plantation proved better in improving the growth parameters of BEC under agroforestry system.