Vol. 10, Issue 10 (2021)

Author(s):
Vijay Kumar, Jitendra Chandra Chandola, Surendra Prasad, Atul Kumar, Saurabh Shankar Patel, Kanhaiya Lal Regar, Abhay Kumar Singh and Mukesh Kumar

Abstract:
A field experiment was established at semi-arid region of Bihar to evaluate the effect of mulching viz., Black plastic mulch: BPM, Rice straw mulch: RSM & Unmulched: UM) on weed biomass, root growth, yield and economics of tomato. Results revealed that black plastic mulch and straw mulch significantly reduced the weed population at first and second interval to the tune of 0-0 and 45.7-68.2 kg ha^-1, respectively as compared to unmulched (UM) i.e., 137.5-215.6 kg ha^-1. The enhancement in root growth of tomato i.e., dry weight of roots and root volume by 68.1 and 112.9% under BPM and 33.3 and 45.2% under RSM, respectively over UM. The yield of tomato was significantly the highest (374.5 q ha^-1) under black plastic mulching (BPM) followed by RSM and UM. The seasonal income in terms of net benefit cost (net B: C ratio) ratio was the highest with the application of black plastic mulch which was followed by rice straw mulch.