Effect of Fertilization and Root Feeding of Coconut Tonic on the Yield of Coconut and Soil Properties

Experiments were conducted in five farmers holdings at Puthalam village consecutively from 2006-07 to study the effect of ischolar_main feeding of coconut tonic on nutrient concentration and yield of coconut. The soil was sandy loam in texture. The soil had a pH range of 7.7 to 8.0, EC of 0.41 to 0.90 dS m^-1, organic C 0.2 to 0.3 %, available N 78 to 88 kg/ha, available P 7.0 to 8.0 kg/ha, and available K 108 to 130 kg/ha. The treatments were: T₁:Control (Co fertilizers), T₂:Recommended chemical fertilizers (1.3 kg urea, 2.0 kg SSP and 2.0 kg muriate of potash), T₃:Root feeding of TNAU tonic without soil application of recommended chemical fertilizers, T₄:ischolar_main feeding of coconut tonic and soil application of recommended chemical fertilizers. The palm west coast tall was tested. In each treatment 35 palms were tested and mean yield/tree/harvest was recorded. The soil application of recommended N, P, K and ischolar_main feeding of coconut tonic resulted in highest K content (1.42 to 1.48%) compared to the other treatments. produced significantly more number of nuts (71.2 and 73.5 nuts/palm/year) compared to other treatments during 2007 and 2008, respectively. This was followed by the ischolar_main feeing of TNAU coconut tonic alone (64.1 and 66.6 nuts/palm/year). The lowest yield was recorded in the control (48 and 48.2 nuts/palm/year, respectively).