Studies on the Effect of Integrated Nutrient Management on Drought Influenced Parameters in Tea (Camellia sp.)

Investigation 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 were involved in the study. The DCC at the rate of three and six tonnes ha-1 and biofertilizers viz., VAM, Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria each @ 50 kg ha-1 were given annually. The proline content and epicuticular wax content were generally found to be lower in DCC treated plots than rest of the plots in both Assam jat and ATK clones. The treatments T3, T4, T5, T8, T12 and T16 registered significantly lower proline and epicuticular wax content than estate practices alone at all levels (T1, T6, T10 and T15). Biofertilizers alone (T9, T`3, T17 and T18) did not affect the proline content in both the varieties during both the years. In both the varieties, T3 and T5 showed the maximum relative water content, transpiration rate and stomatal conductance closely followed by T8 and T16 that received higher level of DCC when compared to estate practice alone.