Nutritional quality of okra as affected by tank silt and organic manures

Abstract: To evaluate the efficiency of tank silt with organic manures, pot culture experiment was conducted at Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture and Research Institute, Karaikal on Sorakudy soil series using okra as test crop with 13 treatments. Wherein, absolute control and application of 100% recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) was compared with the application of tank silt (TS) alone @ 2 t ha^-1 and different organic manures viz., press mud (PM), sewage sludge (SS), water hyacinth compost (WHC), FYM and spent wash (SW). The same set of treatments were repeated with 100% RDF. The results revealed that fruit yield was higher with TS+PM+ remaining through fertilizer (RTF) and it was comparable with RDF, TS+RTF, TS+SS+RDF and TS+PM+RDF. With regard to the quality of fruits, the chlorophyll and ascorbic acid content was higher in TS+WHC+RDF and TS+PM+RDF, respectively. The mucilage content was more with TS+SW+RDF. The absolute control treatment recorded the highest crude fibre content and physiological loss in weight (PLW). The study revealed that addition of this organo mineral amendments could positively influence the yield and quality of okra when applied over and above the 100% RDF rather than accounting their nutrient contribution during fertilization.