Effects of rubber leaf litter vermicompost on earthworm population and yield of pineapple (Ananas comosus) in West Tripura, India

Abstract

Purpose Rubber leaves are the abundant agro-waste and pineapple, the most economically important fruit crop in Tripura. So, in our present study, different amounts of rubber leaf vermicompost have been applied to the soils of pineapple plantation to determine their effects on earthworms-the soil ecosystem engineers, coupled with the vegetative growth and yield of pineapples. Methods During 30 months of field trial (2010-2012) in ICAR regional station, Lembucherra, West Tripura, the control plot (T 0 ) received no fertilizer, while experimental plots were fertilized with four different amounts of vermicompost viz. T 1 (5 tons ha -1 year -1 ), T 2 (10 tons ha -1 year -1 ), T 3 (20 tons ha -1 year -1 ) and T 4 (30 tons ha -1 year -1 ). Results A significant (p \ 0.05) but gradual increase in density (up to T 3 treatment) and biomass (up to T 4 treatment) of earthworms were recorded with the increasing amounts of vermicompost. During the second year, average length and width of leaves, number of leaves per plant, plant girth, fruit weight, fruit yield and fruiting percentage were highest in the T 3 plot compared to other treated plots and control. ConclusionThe present study reveals that crop yield is very much related to the particular concentration of vermicompost, beyond the level of which production declines and increase in vegetative growth, fruit weight and fruiting percentage of pineapple are strongly linked with the soil pH, av. P, av. K, clay content and the earthworm density of soils.

Species diversity and community characteristics of earthworms in managed and degraded tea plantations of Tripura

“…In fact, palatability is inversely proportional to polyphenol contents of leaves (Edwards and Bohlen, 1996). Significantly, higher (p 0.01) density and biomass of anecic earthworms in the managed tea plantation than degraded tea plantation was mainly contributed by larger exotic species, (Table 2), which were also in abundance in other disturbed sites such as rubber (Chaudhuri ., 2008) and pineapple plantation (Dey and Chaudhuri, 2016) in Tripura. Differences in human activities had an impact on the occurrence and population structure of exotic and native species in managed tea plantation and degraded tea plantation.…”

“…Besides environmental plasticity, parthenogenetic mode of reproduction, capacity to tolerate anthropogenic practices, efficient assimilation of low quality soil organic matter, continuous breeding with high fecundity, high P. corethrurus, Dichogaster hatching success etc., are the adaptive strategies of tropical exotic earthworms like to cope with harsh environments (human practices, less palatability of tea leaf litter) making them undoubtedly strong invaders (Chaudhuri and Bhattacharjee, 2011). Most of the exotic species of earthworms were introduced to India by human or other agencies in soils around roots of exotic plants during British colonization (Chaudhuri ., 2008 O n l i n e C o p y degraded tea plantation may be attributed to least anthropogenic interferences and the presence of more diverse variety of weeds and grasses on the plantation floor which provide physical habitat and resource for the earthworm community.…”

“…rubber plantation in Tripura). Successful colonization of almost all agro-climatic zones in India by exotic species is mainly due to their inherent ability to withstand disturbance and interference (Chaudhuri ., 2008;Julka, 2001). Parthenogenetic mode of reproduction in some of these (e.g.…”

“…Distribution and community structures of earthworms are dependent on the nature of land use, canopy, litter input and their chemical characteristics (Chaudhuri ., 2008(Chaudhuri ., , 2013Dash and Dash, 2008). Earthworm density and biomass are correlated with (maybe the lack of man power, financial constraints etc.…”

Improving chemical and hydro-physical properties of semi-arid soils using different magnitudes of crumb rubber

“…The improvement of crop productivity has been attributed to the increase in the soil available nutrients (Lia et al 2017;Chaudhuri et al 2016;Rajaie and Tavakoly 2016) and enhanced soil physical properties such as reduction in soil bulk density and soil penetration resistance (Saglam and Dengiz 2017) and increase in water-holding capacity after applying soil amendments (Emami et al 2014;Parihara et al 2016).…”