Biomass Partitioning of Sesbania Species As Influenced By Plant Density, Phosphorus Levels and Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizae Inoculation
B.K. Desai, A.S. Halepyati
Abstract
A field experiment was conducted at College of Agriculture Farm, Raichur during 2001-02 and 2002-03. The study involved two sesbania species viz., S. grandiflora and S. sesban at three plant densities (10, 20 and 40,000 plants/ ha) and three phosphorus levels (0, 60 and 120 kg/ha) with and without Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizae (VAM) inoculation. The results indicated that the edible, woody and total dry matter (TDM) and fresh bio-mass increased in both the Sesbania species at 12 and 24 MAS (months after sowing). Among the species, S. grandiflora produced higher edible, woody, TDM and bio-mass than S. sesban at both the stages. Increase in plant density from 10 to 40 thousand plants/ ha significantly decreased edible, woody, TDM and biomass in both the species. Application of phosphorus caused significant increase on all the parameters, studied. VAM inoculation plus 60 kg P2O5 /ha was on par with VAM + 120 kg P2O5/ha.
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