Effect of NPK Levels on the Growth and Yield of Catharanthus roseus in Coastal Sandy Soil

A pot experiment was conducted at the Department of Soil Science and Agriculture Chemistry, Annamalai University, Tamilnadu during 2008-2009 to study the fertilizer requirement of Catharanthus roseus in coastal sandy soil. The soil was classified as typic Udipsaments and had deficient level of N, P and K. The growth parameters of Catharanthus rose us viz., plant height, number of branches per plant, number of leaves per plant were influenced favorably with increasing level of NPK application. A reduction in NPK application reduced the yield parameters and leaf yield significantly. The result revealed that the application of NPK @ 30: 40: 40 kg ha^-l proved to be optimum as it recorded the maximum growth characters like plant height (97.50 cm), number of branches per plant (10.75) and dry weight of leaves (24.54 g/plant) and dry weight of ischolar_main (8.46 g/plant).