Jeena Mathew, A. Abdul Haris, Asha K. Chandran, P. Anithakumari and Ravi Bhat
Abstract
Sustainable production of coconut palms requires the adoption of systematic nutrient management practices which involve the addition of major, secondary and micronutrients. The field experiments were conducted for the assessment of the efficiency of nutrient mixtures such as Kalpa Poshak and Kalpa Vardhini for the growth of juvenile coconut palms and the yield and productivity of adult coconut palms respectively. Application of Kalpa Poshak@ 100g in two splits significantly enhanced the biometric characters such as height, number of leaves, collar girth and number of split leaves and the percent increase over the control for these parameters were 30.76%, 22.32%, 8% and 20% respectively. In the adult coconut palms, application of Kalpa Vardhini along with the recommended dose of fertilizers could reduce the button shedding and enhance the nut yield significantly over the control palms with no application. The results of the study also indicated that these nutrient mixtures could enhance the available nutrient content particularly that of K, Mg and Zn. This study underscores the potential of Kalpa Poshak and Kalpa Vardhini as practical interventions for enhancing the production of coconut in tropical acidic soils.