EFFECT OF SOURCES AND LEVELS OF SILICON ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF GARLIC CV.PHULE NILIMA

The field experiment entitled “Effect of sources and levels of silicon on growth and yield of garlic cv. Phule Nilima was conducted during Rabi with a view to study the effect of sources and levels of silicon on growth, and yield of Garlic. The present investigation was carried out in Factorial Randomized Block Design (FRBD). Fifteen treatments comprised of five levels of silicon (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg Si ha-1) through three sources of silicon viz. Diatomaceous earth, calcium silicate and bagasse ash. The plant height, number of leaves per plant, number of cloves per bulb, weight of 10 cloves, polar diameter, equatorial diameter, neck thickness, average weight of bulb, total soluble solid, total yield of bulbs and marketable yield of garlic were recorded significantly influenced due to application of different sources and their different levels. The source A1 (DE) recorded significantly the highest TSS (38.71 0B). The source A2 (CS) recorded significantly the highest number of leaves per plant (12.74), weight of 10 cloves (9.38 g), equatorial diameter (3.54 cm), average weight of bulb (19.23 g). The source A3 (BA) found significantly superior in plant height (55.50 cm), polar diameter (3.39 cm), neck thickness (1.30 cm), total yield of garlic (16.36 t ha-1), than the overall other sources and the marketable yield of garlic significantly highest (14.90 t ha-1). However, it was at par with source A1 (DE) (14.64 t ha-1). In case of levels B5 (Si @ 200 kg ha-1) recorded significantly superior plant height (55.54 cm), number of leaves per plant (13.22), number of cloves per bulb (18.89), weight of 10 cloves (9.37 g), polar diameter (3.45 cm), equatorial diameter (3.52 cm), neck thickness (1.19 cm) and average weight of bulb (19.33 g). The total uptake of N, P, K and Si was increased significantly with application of different silicon sources. In case of source A1 (DE) was significantly superior uptake of Si (6.66 kg ha-1) over all the sources. The source A2 (CS) recorded significantly highest N, P and K (113.51, 28.33 and 99.63 kg ha-1 respectively). From the above result it can be concluded that the application of silicon @ 200 kg ha-1 through bagasse ash proved as good source of silicon for increasing the growth and yield of garlic.