Organic source of nutrients effect on growth, yield and quality of elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius)

A field experiment was conducted at the Regional Centre of ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Bhubaneswar, India during 2008-09 and 2009-10 to find out the effect of organic source of nutrients on growth, yield and quality of elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson). The experiment consisted of nine treatments (T1 to T9) involving different combinations of vermicompost, farmyard manure, poultry manure, vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae, phosphorous solubilising bacteria, Azospirillum and ash and recommended N-P2O5-K2O 80-60-100 kg/ha (T10). Application of 10 t FYM along with 5 t ash, 5 kg Azospirillum and 5 kg PSB /ha (T7) resulted in significantly taller pseudostem, more girth of pseudostem at collar region, wider canopy, more leaflets/hill and leaf area at 3 and 5 MAP. Plants under the same treatment had maximum dry matter in pseudostem, leaf canopy and corm, and corm yield. Application of PSB resulted in greater dry matter production and corm yield than VAM. FYM based organic source of nutrients significantly reduced calcium oxalate in corms.