PJB-2019-715
INFLUENCE OF FORCED AERATED COMPOST POULTRY LITTER ON THE VEGETATIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE GROWTH OF STRAWBERRY PLANT (Fragaria ˟ ananassa)
Fawad Khan
Abstract
In this study forced aerated poultry litter compost (chicken manure with sawdust and wood shavings) was used to check the influence on the vegetative and reproductive growth of the strawberry plant (n: 80) in a controlled greenhouse. The applied compost poultry litter (CPL) was aerated in 3 reactors (volume of 60 L) and the rate of aeration was 0.75, 0.50 and 0.25 L min-1 kg-1 OM (organic matter). After aeration CPL was properly mixed (at 30%) with sandy loam soil and applied in different treatment coded as CS (control soil); T1 (0.75 L min-1 kg-1 OM) and T2 (0.50 L min-1 kg-1 OM); T3 (0.25 L min-1 kg-1 OM) in a rectangular plastic planter pots (59 cm˟24cm˟24cm). Strawberry plant was measured for each treatment and analyzed through analysis of variance (one way ANOVA) with a significance level of (P<0.05). T3 was found highly significantly different at (P<0.001) and induced a positive influence on the vegetative and reproductive parameters, of the strawberry plant, as compared to CS, T1 and T2. Vegetative growth parameter such as plant height (21.6±1.5cm); root length (17.9±1.4cm); leaf area (42.1±1.8 cm²); number of leaves (12.6±1.1 cm); canopy spread (24.9±1.8 cm); crown diameter (1.9±0.1 cm); fresh weight of leaf (FWOL) (2.05±0.29g) and dry weight of leaf (DWOL) (0.83.05±0.13g) was found maximum in T3. Also, reproductive growth parameters: number of days to flower (35.73±4.45); number of flower per truss (7.51±1.42); total number of flowers (64.35±6.24); total number of fruits (51.48±4.99); fruits size (3.20±0.33cm) and fruit weight (11.34±1.12g) was positively influenced by the application of low rate aerated OM(T3). This study showed that CPL with optimum force aeration rate (0.25 L min-1 kg-1 OM) was found more effective and positively influenced the vegetative and reproductive growth of strawberry plants.
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