Effect of Different Fruit Peel Powders as Natural Fertilizers on Growth of Okra (<em>Abelmoschus esculentus</em> L.)

Abstract

Purpose : Fruit peels waste is one of the waste accumulate in huge quantity every day. It is a serious problem and need to be managed to make environment free from pollution. Fruit peels are very rich in macro and micro nutrients that are beneficial for plant growth. By using fruit peel as fertilizer we can reduce load of wastes and can get more benefits than inorganic fertilizer. Research Method : The experiment was carried out in a Completely Randomized Design with six treatments having twenty replicates. Treatments were, recommended fertilizer application at basal and topdressing (T1, control), half dose of recommended fertilizer application at basal and topdressing times with 1g of banana peel powder (T2), 1g of pomegranate peel powder (T3), 1g of orange peel powder (T4), 0.5g each of banana and pomegranate peel powders (T5) and 0.5g each of orange and banana peel powders (T6) at both times. All agronomic practices were followed as per Department of Agriculture, Sri Lanka except fertilizers. Findings : The results reveals that application of fruit peel powder at basal and top dressing had significant differences (P&lt;0.05) on plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf area, chlorophyll content, days to 50% and 100% flowering, dry weights of leaves, stem, root and fruit, fruit length and girth. At 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th picking, and the highest value was obtained in T6 and lowest value in T1. Originality/ Value : Application of fruit peel powder into the soil leads to improve growth and yield of okra in sandy regosol compared to recommended inorganic fertilizer and present study suggested that, among the all tested treatments, half recommended fertilizer application at basal and topdressing times with 0.5g each of orange and banana peel powders at both times would be the most suitable fruit peel powders to get higher growth and yield of okra in sandy regosol.

Comparative Assessment of Selected Fruit Peels on Growth and Yield of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench)

“…The non-significant response of the plants across the treatments for numbers of leaves and stem girth coupled the significant increase in height of plants grown with N.P.K and negative control (without fertilizer and fruit peels) compared to those grown with fruit peels at 1WAP suggests that nutrients in fruit peels may not be made available to the plants immediately. This finding is in agreement with the report of [14] who reported significant performance of plants grown with orange and banana fruit peel powder after 2 Weeks After Planting (2WAP).…”

“…This indicates that nutrients in banana peels are made available to the plants at early stages of growth while nutrients in watermelon peels are made available at later stages. This finding is in agreement with the report of [14] who attributed the growth enhancing potentials of banana fruit peel to its high potassium (K) contents which helps in creating new cells, which are then organized into plant tissues.…”

“…Sandy loamy soil within the depth of 0-5cm were collected and properly mixed at the research site before filling steam-sterilized soils into different polythene bags. Application of fruit peel powder was done according to the methods outlined by [14] with slight modifications. 10g of each fruit peels were applied to 7kg of soils in pots and left for 7 days before planting of okra seed into already labeled pots.…”

“…Therefore, the need to carryout research on the response of crops to cheaper and readily available organic-based fertilizers is germane. The need to evaluate the growth promoting abilities of fruit peels on crops is very important [14].…”

“…Fruit processing industries contribute significantly to the indiscriminate disposal of fruit peels [16]. Improper disposed of fruit peels is now a serious environmental issue because during the process of decomposition the peels serve as breeding site for some disease vector [14]. Fruit peels are very rich in macro and micro nutrients that are indispensable for plant [17].…”