Browsing by Author "Vijeindran, S.S."

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    Effect of palmyrah coir dust on physicochemical properties of potting media and on growth and yield of chilli
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2015) Puthisigamani, S.; Jayasinghe, H.A.S.L.; Gunadasa, H.K.S.G.; Nilushiny, A.M.; Vijeindran, S.S.
    Palmyrah (Borassus flabellifer) coir dust is a major by-product of the fibre industry. Coir waste or coir pith is generally a mixture of dust, bits and fibres of shortlength that is rejected during the process of coir extraction. Coir dust is a spongy material which can absorb ample quantity of water compared to its weight and it is a valuable carbon source which could be used in agriculture to maintain and improve the organic matter content of depleted soils(Vidhana Arachchi and Somasin, 1997). Organic matter can improve the soil properties in long run (Kularathne et al., 2005).Although Palmyrah coir dust is a very useful carbon source for agriculture, it is wasted by burning at the factory. No studies have been undertaken to investigate the beneficial effects of palmyrah coir dust which can be used in agriculture. This research was conducted to study the effect of palmyrah coir dust on physicochemical properties of potting media and on growth & yield of capsicum. Methodology A pot experiment was carried out at Palmyrah Research Institute, Jaffna under greenhouse conditions(temperature 30.1 C and relative humidity 80.9 % during day time). Six treatments were used: T1:-control (soil alone), T2:- palmyrah coir dust: soil (1:1), T3:- palmyrah coir dust: soil (1:3), T4:-palmyrah coir dust: soil: sand (2:1:1), T5:- palmyrah coir dust: soil: sand (1:2:1), T6:- palmyrah coir dust: soil: sand (1:1:2). The experiment was laid in a Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with three replicates. Hungarian Yellow Wax variety was selected as the test crop considering its short harvesting period.Potting media were prepared by mixing palmyrah coir dust, soil and sand in a different ratio on weight basis according to the treatments. All agronomic practices were undertaken according to the guidelines provided by the Department of Agriculture (DAO, 2006). Plant height (cm), crop yield (g), bulk density (g/cm ), porosity (%), water retention (% wt), pH, electrical conductivity (µs/cm), cation exchange capacity (meq/100g), available nitrogen (%), available phosphorus (%), organic carbon (%), exchangeable calcium (%) and exchangeable magnesium (%) were measured. Data was analyzed using SAS software package and the mean separation was done by Least Significant Difference (LSD) at p=0.05 probability level. Results and Discussion Significantly, the highest bulk density (1.41± 0.05 g/cm ) was recorded in the control treatment (T1). As given in Table 1, the lowest porosity (88.63 ± 0.05 %) and the lowest water retention (33.64 ± 0.05 %) were recorded in control treatment (T1). The highest porosity (95.75 ± 0.05 %) and the highest water retention (153.26 ± 0.05 %) were recorded in T4 treatment (palmyrah coir dust: soil: sand 2:1:1) followed by T5 treatment and T3 treatment at 5 % probability level. Palmyrah coir dust is a light weight material with low bulk density (0.128 g/cm ).Incorporation of palmyrah coir dust increased the porosity and water retention of potting media and reduced the bulk density.