Short communicationEffect of the application of water hyacinth compost/vermicompost on the growth and flowering of Crossandra undulaefolia, and on several vegetables
Introduction
We have been studying various aspects of composting and vermicomposting of water hyacinth with emphasis on developing more efficient, hence more economically attractive, systems for the utilization of water hyacinth than available hitherto (Gajalakshmi et al., 2001a, Gajalakshmi et al., 2001b, Gajalakshmi et al., 2002a). We have also made attempts to attract marginal farmers towards utilizing water hyacinth in this manner (Rajalingam, 2001). During such attempts apprehensions were raised by the farmers that compost or vermicompost obtained from water hyacinth––which is a pernicious weed, widely perceived as a scourge of farmers––may be harmful to the plant growth. The fear was widespread and threatened to sabotage the author's attempts of developing a method of utilizing water hyacinth beneficial to the farmers. Hence, in order to decide whether such apprehensions are reasonable we have conducted two types of experiments:
Qualitative studies were done at the kitchen gardens of five farmers. In each location ∼4 m2 plots were marked out and the following common vegetables were planted: lady's finger (Hibiscus esculentus), brinjal (Solanum melongena), cluster bean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba), chilli (Capsicum annum), and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). Three of the plots were treated with water hyacinth vermicompost and two of the plots with an equal quantity of water hyacinth compost. As these were qualitative studies basically to see whether the water hyacinth compost/vermicompost discouraged plant growth, no controls of unfertilized plots were studied.
Controlled experiments with and without fertilization with the water hyacinth compost/vermicompost were conducted on the saplings of Crossandra undulaefolia, an angiosperm and a free-branching perennial herb (Pandey, 1982). It is an ornamental plant, and is marketed as such. Crossandra is often grown to beautify kitchen gardens as it is small in size and sports attractive flowers. This species was chosen for the study for three reasons: it is well established in the area where the authors work; it is fast growing; and it flowers early and profusely.
Whereas the first set of experiments were qualitative, the second set aimed to quantify the impact of water hyacinth compost/vermicompost.
Section snippets
General
All quantities mentioned below represent dry (oven dried at 105 °C to constant) weights unless otherwise stated. Water hyacinth was composted and vermicomposted as detailed earlier (Gajalakshmi et al., 2002b).
Results and discussion
The findings from the experiments with crossandra are summarized in Table 1. The pots containing soil amended with water hyacinth compost had crossandra plants achieving significantly better height, larger number of leaves, more favorable shoot:root ratio, greater biomass per unit time and larger length of inflorescence. In terms of root length, quicker onset of flowering and harvest index, too, the treated plants on an average performed better than the controls but the enhancement was not
Acknowledgements
Authors thank Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi, for support towards the study.
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