Effect of Integrated Nutrient Management on Pruning Recovery in Tea (Camellia sp.)

The Experiment was conducted at Parry Agro Industries Ltd., Valparai, Coimbatore district in two varieties of tea viz., Assam jat and ATK clone. Totally eighteen treatments with different combinations of 100, 75, 62.5 and 50 per cent of the recommended doses of fertilizers along with DCC and biofertilizers. The DCC at the rate of three and six tonnes ha-1 and biofertilizers viz., VAM, Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria each @ 40 kg ha-1 were given annually. Bud break and time taken for tipping were earliest in the plots receiving higher dose of DCC (6 t/ha-1) along with biofertilizers (50 kg ha-1) irrespective of levels of inorganic fertilizers (T4, T5, T8, T12 and T16) in both the varieties. Maximum number of buds and tipping weight, pruning index and starch content were higher in treatments consisting higher level of DCC (6 t/ha-1) and biofertilizers (40 kg ha-1) along with higher levels of inorganic fertilizers (100% and 75% of recommended dose).