Abstract:
Soil and water management is equally important as same as quality of planting material for getting
high yield of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.). Among management practices, mulching plays a critical
role in conserving soil moisture, enhancing soil temperature for proper germination of rhizome,
improving soil physical properties, suppressing weed growth, enriching soil fertility after
decomposing mulching materials and preventing leaching from soil nutrients. Therefore, present
study was carried out to compare the effect of two abundant mulching materials, paddy straw and
paddy husk on the growth and yield of turmeric at the Faculty of Technology, University of
Ruhuna, Sri Lanka from January 2021 to December 2021. The treatments used in this study were
paddy straw (T1), paddy husk (T2) and control (T0) without any mulching material. The
experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replicates and
twenty-four plants were used for one replicate in four rows with 30×30 cm spacing. After 11
months, plant height (cm), number of leaves, number of tillers/plants, leaf length (cm), leaf width
(cm), fresh rhizomes weight (g), number of mother rhizomes/plant, number of primary
fingers/plant and number of secondary fingers/plants were measured. Analysis of Variance was
performed to determine the significant differences among T1, T2, and T0. Plant height (162.45 +
16.27 cm), number of tillers (6.07 + 1.68), leaf width (15.5 + 2.96 cm), fresh rhizomes weight
(1560.9 + 775.68 cm), number of mother rhizomes (6.4 + 1.94), number of primary rhizomes (32
+ 14.19) and number of secondary rhizomes (93.5 + 36.06) were significantly higher in T2 than
control treatment (P<0.05). There were no significant differences between the parameters of T1
and T2 or T1 and T0. Significant correlations were found between number of leaves with the fresh
rhizome weight (r=0.678, α=0.01), number of tillers (r=0.874, α=0.01) and with the fresh rhizome
weight (r=0.653, α=0.01) in control treatment. In treatment T1, significant correlations were
found between the same parameters, the number of leaves and the fresh rhizome weight (r=0.795,
α=0.01), and number of tillers with the fresh rhizome weight (r=0.738, α=0.01). In treatment 2,
number of leaves (r=0.795, α=0.01), number of tillers (r=0.738, α=0.01) and leaf length were
(r=0.408, α=0.05) significantly correlated with the fresh rhizome weight. Paddy husk and paddy
straw had similar impact on the growth and yield of turmeric except that paddy husk significantly
increased the leaf length of turmeric. Increasing leaf length directly increases the sink capacity
and consequently, it contributes to the yield increment of turmeric.
