International Journal of Agricultural

Science and Research (IJASR)

ISSN(P): 2250-0057; ISSN(E): 2321-0087
Vol. 7, Issue 3, Jun 2017, 271-276
TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

EFFECT OF URBAN COMPOST, SEWAGE SLUDGE AND POULTRY MANURE

WITH CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS ON YIELD AND PROFITABILTY IN BRINJAL-
CAULIFLOWER SYSTEM
R. SAIKUMAR & K. JEEVAN RAO
Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture, PJTSAU, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, India
ABSTRACT

An experiment was conducted during kharif 2013 and rabi 2013-14 at College of Agriculture, College farm,
Rajendranagar, Hyderabad to evaluate the best combination of organic and inorganic sources of nutrients for
maximizing yield and profitability. Combined application of poultry manure 5 t ha-1 + 75% recommended dose of NPK
recorded higher fruit yield (33.6 t ha-1) and curd yield (29.3 t ha-1) followed by combining application of sewage sludge
5 t ha-1 + 75% recommended dose of NPK. The highest benefit: cost ratio obtained in treatment with sewage sludge
5.0 t ha-1 + 75 per cent RDF for brinjal (2.14) and cumulative sewage sludge applied 5.0 t ha-1 + 75 per cent RDF for
cauliflower crop (2.40). Pooled data of economic analysis indicated that the highest B: C ratio (2.27) was obtained with
sewage sludge 5.0 t ha-1 + 75 % RDF.

Original Article
KEYWORDS: Sewage Sludge, Urban Compost, Poultry Manure, Fertilizers, Yield & Benefit Cost Ratio

Received: Apr 04, 2017; Accepted: May 11, 2017; Published: May 26, 2017; Paper Id.: IJASRJUN201735

INTRODUCTION

Presently, India presently supports 17% of the world population with only 4.0% worlds water resources
and 2.4% global geographic area (State of Indian Agriculture, 2012-13). This may further decrease in the future
due to increasing demographic pressure and consequent diversion of land for non agricultural use. To meet the
need of blooming population, we are forced to exploit the land beyond its capability. It leads to degradation of soil
resources through erosion, nutrient mining, soil organic carbon depletion, salinization, and decrease in soil
structure. Since land is a finite natural resource, we cannot increase the area under cultivation to get higher
production. So, the only solution is to increase the yield per unit area in a sustainable way. The imbalanced and
skewed application of NPK accompanied by restricted use of organic manures and micronutrients has made soils
not only deficient in the nutrients, but also deteriorated the soil health, resulting in declining of the crop response
to the application of fertilizers. On the other hand, Organic manures alone may not be able to meet the nutrient
requirement of high yielding crops to produce the required food grains for the burgeoning human population, due
to their low nutrient contents and slow rates of nutrient release. Under this circumstance, integration of chemical
and organic sources and their management have shown promising results not only in sustaining the productivity,
but have also proved to be effective in maintaining soil health and enhancing nutrient use efficiency
(Laxminarayana et al., 2011; Kumar Mukesh et al., 2012). The supplementary and complementary use of organic
manures and inorganic fertilizers augment the efficiency of both substances to sustain soil productivity.

Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) system envisages the use of inorganic fertilizers and organic
manures, besides taking into account the fertility status of the soils. Integrated use of organic manures and

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272 R. Saikumar & K. Jeevan Rao

chemical fertilizers generally produces higher crop yields than their sole application. This increase in crop productivity
may be due to the combined effect of nutrient supply, synergism and improvement in soil physical and biological
properties (Sarawad et al., 2005). Brinjal is one of the most commonly grown vegetable crops of the country. India
produces about 12,916 MT of brinjal from an area of 709M ha with an average productivity of 18.21 t/ha. The brinjal
producing states are Orissa, Bihar, Karnataka, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh (Indian
Horticultural Data Base, 2012-13). Cauliflower is one of the most important winter vegetables of India. India produces
7765 MT of cauliflower per year from 409 M ha areas with an average productivity of about 18.98 t/ha (Indian
Horticultural Data Base, 2012-13). Keeping in view the significance of organic manures in maintaining the soil health, the
importance of brinjal and cauliflower in human nutrition, an attempt was made to critically examine the use of poultry
manure, sewage sludge and urban compost along with chemical fertilizers to obtain better yields, and to maintain better
soil health in brinjal-cauliflower cropping system under integrated nutrient management.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A field experiment was conducted at College farm, Rajendranagar, during kharif 2013 and rabi 2013-14. The soil
was sandy loam in texture and slightly alkaline in reaction. It was low in available N, medium in available P, K and low in
organic carbon. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with 14 treatment combinations, each being
replicated thrice consisting of two levels of each of sewage sludge, urban compost and poultry manure 2.5, 5.0 t ha1 and
combination of 75 percent RDF. The organic manures i.e., poultry manure (PM), urban compost (UC) and sewage sludge
(SS) procured from poultry station, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, SELICO private company gandemguda, Rangareddy and
Amberpet sewage treatment plant, respectively. All theses manures were analyzed for their chemical composition viz., N,
P, K, and OC, pH, EC and available micronutrients. All these manure were applied as per the treatments. N, P and K were
applied through Urea, SSP and MOP, respectively, while the total quantity of phosphorus and potassium were applied as
basal and nitrogen was applied in three equal splits viz. 1/3 as basal, 1/3 at flowering and the remaining 1/3 at fruit
formation to brinjal. Thirty days old seedlings of brinjal (hybrid) were transplanted on ridges at a spacing of 60 cm x 60
cm. During Rabi season, cauliflower was grown to know the manures and fertilizers effect on soil to assay the cumulative
and residual effects on cauliflower from the earlier brinjal crop. Each earlier treatments plot was divided into two; among
them, one plot was used to get a cumulative effect on cauliflower, other one was used to get the residual effect on
cauliflower. However, the crop was grown without the addition of any manure and fertilizer for residual sub plot. The
cumulative sub plot was applied with fertilizers and manures as per the crop recommendation and treatments. Gross
returns, net returns and benefit cost ratio were calculated for each treatment by considering prevailing input costs and
output prices.

Gross returns = Fruit yield x Price of fruit

Net returns = Gross returns Cost of cultivation

Net returns (Rs. ha-1)

Benefit: Cost ratio =
Cost of cultivation (Rs. ha-1)

Impact Factor(JCC)5.9857 NASS Rating:4.13

Effect of Urban Compost, Sewage Sludge and Poultry Manure with Chemical Fertilizers on 273
Yield and Profitabilty in Brinjal-Cauliflower System

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Brinjal Fresh Fruit Yield (Kharif, 2013)

The fruit yield of brinjal was significantly influenced by different levels of organic manures and inorganic
fertilizers. The lowest and highest yields were recorded at T1 (control) and T14 (PM @ 5 t ha-1 +75% RDF), respectively.
The fruit yield varied from 16.0 to 33.6 t ha-1. However, the yield recorded at T14 was on par with that recorded at T12 (32.5
t ha-1), T10 (29.0 t ha-1) and T13 (30.0 t ha-1) and significantly superior over all other treatments. Conjunctive use of different
levels of chemical fertilizers with any one of the organics produced higher yields as compared to their individual
applications. This was due to the direct availability of nutrients from inorganic fertilizers, and also the manures containing
higher available N, P and K contents. The maximum yield in treatment T14 was due to more number and large sized fruits
as well as increased the synthesis of carbohydrates, which ultimately promoted greater yield. The above results corroborate
with Rakhonde et al. (2005).

Cauliflower Fresh Head Yield (Rabi, 2013-14)

In the second season of cumulative and residual effect on rabi 2014, cauliflower significantly increased yield of
29.3 t ha and 22.0 t ha-1 was recorded in T14 (PM @ 5 t ha-1 +75% RDF), followed by T12 (SS @ 5 t ha-1 +75% RDF) 28.7
-1

t ha-1 and 21.8 t ha-1. Integrated manures and fertilizer applied plots showed good response to yield, and individually
manure treated plots showed a significantly lesser yield than combined applications. The relative increase in yield by
combining application of poultry manure and fertilizers could be attributed to improvement in soil structure, nutrient
retention and water for plant use. Combined application of organic and inorganic fertilizers helps in growing cauliflower
by effectively utilizing the left over nutrients after harvest of brinjal. The combined application of NPK fertilizers and
poultry manure had shown to more effective. These results are in accordance with those of Isitekhale and Osemwota, 2010.

Economics of Brinjal Cultivation

Among the different treatments, highest yield of 33.6 t ha-1 were recorded with T14 (PM @ 5.0 tha-1+75% RDF)
followed by T12 (SS @ 5.0 t ha-1+ 75% RDF), 32.5 t ha-1. Considering the cost of organic manure and inorganic fertilizers,
the net returns obtained from T14 was found to be Rs.1, 36,979 ha-1 followed by T12 (Rs.1, 32,954). Considering the total
cost of cultivation and net returns, the B: C ratio was highest in treatment T12 (SS @ 5.0 tha-1+75% RDF), i.e., 2.14,
followed by T14 (2.11) and T13 (1.85). Sewage sludge showed higher B: C ratio when compared with poultry manure
treatments even though high gross returns were obtained with use of poultry manure. This may be attributed to higher cost
of poultry manure (Rs. 600 per tonne) as compared to sewage sludge (Rs. 85 per tonne). Among individual manure
treatments, sewage sludge, poultry manure and urban compost treatments showed higher B: C ratios than control. Sewage
sludge, poultry manure and urban compost applied @ 2.5 t ha-1 and at @ 5.0 t ha-1 showed lower B: C ratios than with 100
percent RDF (1.60).

Economics of Cumulative Cauliflower Cultivation

Application of PM @ 5.0 t ha-1+75% RDF gave the highest 29.3 t ha-1 of cauliflower yield followed by T12 (SS @
5.0 tha-1+75% RDF) with the recorded yield of 28.6 t ha-1. Lowest yield of 13.0 t ha-1 was recorded from control treatment.
Higher net returns were given by T14 (PM @5.0 t ha-1+75% RDF), Rs. 1, 64,390 followed by T12, Rs. 1,61,845, whereas,
significantly lower net returns were noticed with control treatment (Rs. 39,175). B: C ratio was significantly higher in T12
i.e., 2.40, followed by T14 (2.34) and T11 (2.22), respectively. All the manures without conjunctive application of fertilizers

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274 R. Saikumar & K. Jeevan Rao

showed higher B: C ratio than control, but those values were lower than full dose of recommended fertilizers. All
combined treatments recorded higher B: C ratio than treatment with full dose of recommended fertilizers.

Economics of Residual Cauliflower Cultivation

Among the different residual treatment combinations, highest yield (22.0 t ha-1) was recorded with PM @ 5.0 t ha-
1
+75% RDF followed by SS @ 5.0 t ha-1+75% RDF) (21.8 t ha-1). Without considering the application of manures and
fertilizers, higher net returns were obtained from T14 which was found to be Rs. 1, 11,175 per hectare followed by T12 (Rs.
1, 09,575) and T13 (Rs. 88, 775), but considering the total cost of cultivation and net returns, the B: C ratio was highest in
treatment T14 (PM @ 5.0 tha-1+75% RDF) i.e., 1.71, followed by T12 (1.69).

Economics of Brinjal Cauliflower Cropping Sequences

Pooled data on economic analysis, the highest B: C ratio was obtained with SS @ 5.0 t ha-1 + 75% RDF (2.27)
closely followed by PM @ 5.0 t ha-1 + 75% RDF (2.23). The lowest B: C ratio was obtained in control (0.60).

Economics of Cauliflower (Regular + Residual) Cultivation

The highest B: C ratio was found in SS @ 5.0 t ha-1 + 75% RDF (2.05) closely followed by PM @ 5.0 t ha-1 +
75% RDF (2.04). The lowest B: C ratio was obtained in control (0.38).

During the brinjal and cauliflower cultivation, highest yield and net returns were obtained from integrated
treatments. Manures treatments like sewage sludge, poultry manure and urban compost had good net return and B: C ratio
but it was lesser compared to combined treatments. On an overall view, integrated treatments performance was better than
manures alone. Similarly, Hochmuth et al. (1993) conducted field experiments on cabbage and showed that, marketable
yield increased through poultry manure and RDF application. Combined application of organic and inorganic sources of
nutrients can be more productive, and this will also sustain the fertility and productivity of soil.

CONCLUSIONS

It can be concluded that the highest B: C ratio (2.27) was obtained with sewage sludge @ 5.0 t ha-1 along with 75
per cent RDF to both the crops. To obtain higher income, application of sewage sludge @ 5.0 t ha-1 along with 75 per cent
RDF for brinjal cauliflower cropping sequence is recommended. This helps in disposal of the sewage sludge and
increasing the returns from crops without any harmful effects on produce.

REFERENCES

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2. Indian Horticulture Data base. 2012-13. http:// www.nhb.gov.in

3. Isitekhale, H. H. E and Osemwota, I. O. 2010. Residual effects of poultry manure and NPK fertilizer on soil physical
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Impact Factor(JCC)5.9857 NASS Rating:4.13

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Yield and Profitabilty in Brinjal-Cauliflower System

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