Effect of Cattle Manure, Coir Dust And Paddy Huskash on Physical and chemical Properties of Pottingmedia

Abstract

An experiment was carried out at the Agronomy farm of the Eastern University, Sri Lanka to study the effect of organic manures on physical and chemical properties of media used in pot culture technique. Three different types of organic manures (cattle manure, coir dust and paddy husk ash) were tested and soil type used for this experiment is sandy regosol. The experiment was laid out in a Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with five treatments and four replications. Different types of potting media were prepared by mixing of potting materials at different ratio (v/v) such as such as medium 1(T1) used as control contained sandy soil only, medium - 2 (T2) contained sandy soil: cattle manure at ratio of 3:1, medium - 3 (T3) contained sandy soil: cattle manure: coir dust at ratio of 6:2:1, medium - 4 (T4) contained sandy soil: cattle manure: paddy husk ash at ratio of 6:2:1 and medium- 5 (T5) contained sandysoil: cattle manure: coir dust: paddyhuskash at ratioof 12:4:1:1. Soil testing was done in two stages i.e day on media preparation and four weeks after media preparation. Disturbed soil sample was collected from each medium and its both physical and chemical properties were estimated. The results indicated that organic manures have significant effect on the properties of potting media. Addition of organic manures resulted in the improvement of physical properties such as water holding capacity, particle density, bulk density and porosity and chemical propertiessuch as pH, nutrients content(P and K), organicmattercontentand electrical conductivity of potting media.Among tested materials, paddy husk ash increased pH and nutrients content (P and K) of media distinctly and improved other properties such water holding capacity, electrical conductivity and porosity to optimum level. Medium (T4) contained sandy soil, cattle manure and paddy husk ash at ratio of 6:2:1 showed highest soil pH (7.4), P content (77 mg/kg) and K content (88 mg/kg). Usage of paddy husk ash as a potting material with sandy soil and cattle manure for media preparation in pot culture technique would improve both physical and chemical properties of medium and provide favourable condition for root establishment and crop growth.