Abstract:
An experiment was accomplished in the low country wet zone of Sri Lanka from October 2021 to
January 2022 in a protected house to study the effect of rate and split application of Albert
fertilizer on growth and yield performances of cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. var Green Coronet).
The experiment was carried out in a two-factor factorial (2×3) Completely Randomized Design
with four replicates. The tested two factors were, rate of fertilizer; A1 (1.0 g/plant/day), A2 (1.5
g/plant/day), A3 (2.0 g/plant/day) and number of split applications of fertilizer; F1 (1
time/plant/day), F2 (2 times/plant/day), F3 (3 times/plant/day). Treatments were applied daily.
Average day temperature inside the protected house was 32.5 °C and average night temperature
inside the protected house was 27 °C. Growth parameters (plant height, canopy diameter and
number of loose leaves per plant) were taken fortnight intervals while cabbage heads and total
biomass yield were taken as yield parameters after 110 days from transplanting. The data were
analyzed using ANOVA and means were separated by least significant difference (LSD) at 5%
probability level. There was no significant effect of split of fertilizer and no interaction effect
between rate and split of fertilizer. Plant height, canopy diameter and number of loose leaves per
plant significantly influenced by amount of fertilizer. The treatment of 2.0 g/plant/day gave
significantly higher values for above growth parameters with compared to 1 and 1.5 g/plant/day
treatments. Even though, no significant difference was recorded in biomass yield, significantly
highest head yield was recorded in the treatment of 1.0 g of Albert fertilizer/plant/day. When
considering the economic yield, it can be concluded that the treatment of 1.0 g/plant/day is the
best fertilizer rate for cabbage grown under polytunnel condition in low country wet zone of Sri
Lanka. Also, fertilizer application once per day can be recommended when considering the energy
use efficiency since there is no significant effect of split applications of fertilizer.
