EFFECT OF DIFFERENT MULCH COLORS ON THE YIELD OF CABBAGE IN THE COLD ARID REGION OF LADAKH (UT), INDIASonam Spaldon, Deldan Namgyal, Anwar Hussain, Phuntsog Tundup and Dechen AngmoAbstract Mulching is a protective covering of the soil surface and offers immense benefits in the vegetable production system in terms of yield, quality, earliness, weed infestation, water use efficiency, and drudgery reduction. Using colored plastic mulches is mainly focused on modifying the radiation budget and decreasing soil water loss. Besides, it helps to regulate soil temperature, plant growth, quality, and weed infestation. Therefore, an effort has been made to study the impact of different colors of mulch on the yield of cabbage under cold arid conditions. The results revealed that different colors of mulch significantly influenced the growth parameters of cabbage viz., yield/plot, Net head weight (Kg), Gross head weight (Kg), No. of nonwrapped leaves (g), Weight of non-wrapper leaves (g), and dry weight of weeds(g) overrun-mulched. For days to head formation was significantly earlier in black mulched who took (91 days) followed by blue mulched (93 days) as compared to un mulched which took a maximum number of days (106). Weed infestation in cabbage was significantly reduced under black mulch than control. |