Effect of Organic Manures and Inorganic Fertilizer on the Leaf Characters of Banana

A field experiment was carried out at Instructional cum Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, Biswanath College of Agriculture, AAU, Biswanath Chariali to study the effects of organic manures and inorganic fertilizer on leaf characters of banana cv. Amritsagar (AAA) during 2016-2017. The research work was carried out with the treatments as follows T1: FYM (Farm Yard Manure) + Microbial Consortia, T2: Enriched Compost, T3: Vermicompost, T4: Microbial Consortia, T0: RDF (FYM + NPK). Healthy suckers were planted in each plot with spacing of 2.1m x 2.1m on 27th May 2016. The treatments T1, T2, T3 and T4 were laid out in certified organic block in RBD with 5 replications while the treatment T0 was laid out outside the organic block with five replications. In the organics, T1 recorded the highest number of functional leaves (7.97, 12.46 and 5.37) in vegetative stage, shooting stage and harvesting stage respectively. Highest leaf area of 2.69 m2 at vegetative stage and 11.17 m2 at shooting stage were recorded in T1 while lowest leaf area of 2.41 m2 at vegetative stage and 8.89 m2 at shooting stage were recorded in T4. Leaf area index was highest in T1. Chlorophyll content index in both vegetative stage (45.29) and shooting stage (65.56) was also highest in T1. Comparing the leaf characters (number of functional leaves, leaf area, leaf area index and chlorophyll content index) under organic treatments with that of T0 treated plants, it was found that plants treated with inorganic fertilizer had more number of functional leaves and better leaf character than that of the plants treated with organics.