Influence of Biofertigation and Crude Edible Oils Application on Growth Characteristics of Papaya (Carica papaya L.) cv. Red Lady

Abstract

An experiment was carried out to know the influence of biofertigation and crude edible oils application on growth, floral and fruit characteristics of papaya (Carica Papaya L.) cv. Red Lady was carried out at Department of Fruit Science, Dr. YSRHU-College of Horticulture, Venkataramanannagudem, West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh during 2021-22 and 2022-23. The experiment was carried out in a Factorial RBD with three replications consisted of two factors viz., biofertilizers at three levels (B1: 5 ml each of NFB + PSB + KRB; B2: 2.5 ml each of NFB + PSB + KRB; B3: Without biofertilizer) and crude edible oil at five levels (C1: Ground nut oil @0.5%; C2: Castor oil @0.5%; C3: Mustard oil @0.5%; C4: Ground nut oil + Castor oil + Mustard oil @0.5%; C5: No crude oil spray) with fifteen treatment combinations. Among the treatments studied, the results revealed that the maximum plant height, stem girth, number of leaves per plant at 360 DAT were registered in the plants with biofertigation of 5 ml each of biofertilizers NFB + PSB + KRB (B1), spraying of crude edible oils viz., with ground nut oil + castor oil + mustard oil @0.5% (C4)] and their interaction i.e. plants applied with 5 ml each of biofertilizers NFB+ PSB + KRB along with ground nut oil + castor oil + mustard oil @0.5% (B1C4).