Abstract

An experiment was conducted in Morinda citrifolia to find out the effect of various organic manures and drip irrigation on physiological and yield parameters. The experiment was carried out in split plot design with irrigation regimes on main plot and organic manures on sub plot. Among the treatment combinations, M₂S₄(100% crop water requirement through drip irrigation + 50% farmyard manure + 50% vermicompost) recorded the superior score for leaf area index (0.2597, 0.7755 and 2.0937), light interception (8.65, 11.97 and 17.68%), specific leaf weight (10.89, 12.98 and 12.23 mg cm^-2), chlorophyll ‘a’ (1.483, 1.732 and 1.946 mg g^-1), chlorophyll ‘b’ (0.705, 0.772 and 0.840 mg g^-1), total chlorophyll (2.223, 2.554 and 2.818 mg g^-1), soluble protein (13.68, 15.84 and 14.42 mg g^-1), total phenol (4.55, 6.79 and 5.63 mg g^-1) and nitrate reductase activity (38.92, 49.06 and 45.84 µg NO₂ g^-1 h^-1) during vegetative, flowering and harvesting stages respectively. The same treatment combination exhibited the highest yield parameters viz, fruit weight (167.86 g), number of fruits per plant (198.12), yield per plant (33.26 kg).

Key words: Morinda citrifolia, farmyard manure, vermicompost, coir pith compost, drip irrigation, physiology, yield.