Integrated Nutrient Management of Papaya (Carica papaya L.): Application of Microbial Consortium Enriched Organic Manures for Yield and Fruit Quality Enhancement

An experiment was undertaken to study the effect of integrated nutrient management on growth, yield and quality of papaya under Kerala conditions. The trial was conducted in RBD. Papaya variety used for the study was Surya with ten treatments. The results revealed that the applications of microbial consortium enriched organic manures in papaya plants (NPK (25 %) as PGPR mix-1 enriched vermicompost along with N, P and K 75% of recommended dose of fertilizers fertilizers ( 240 N: 240 P2O5: 480 K2O (g plant-1) + 10 kg FYM) resulted in the highest number of fruit production, enhanced fruit weight , total fruit yield per plant. It also resulted in the production of fruits with highest fruit length, girth, pulp percentage and flesh thickness. Fruit quality characters like high TSS, less acidity, higher carotenoid content, ascorbic acid content, highest total sugar content and reducing sugar content were enhanced in papaya. Organoleptic characters of fruit were also enhanced by adopting integrated nutrient management in papaya . Papaya being an important fruit crop of Kerala gaining importance nowadays. Integrated nutrient management (INM) involves efficient and judicious supply of all major and micro components of plant nutrients including local available resources on sustainable basis. Papaya is known to be a heavy feeder of nutrients (NPK) and information regarding the effect of INM is more important