Effect of tendu (Diospyros melanoxylon RoxB.) leaf vermicompost on growth and yield of French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Background Tendu (Diospyros melanoxylon RoxB.) leafis widely used in India in the form of wrapper for making acrude smoking stick popularly known as ‘‘Beedi’’. Solapurcity of Maharashtra state has large number of small beedimaking units. Large quantity waste from these industries inthe form of trimmed leaf residues is available as feedmaterial for preparation of vermicompost. The presentinvestigations were aimed to study effect of vermicompostprepared from such novel leaf residues as the tendu leaveson the growth and yield of Phaseolus vulgaris undergreenhouse conditions. The seeds of French bean weresown in cement pots containing soil alone (control), soilwith various concentrations of vermicompost alone, soilwith various concentrations of urea only and differentadmixtures of vermicompost and urea.Results The study revealed that the seed germination,shoot and root length, shoot and root fresh weights, shootand root dry weights, thousand grain weight and grainweight per plant increased significantly (p B 0.05) comparedto control due to application of vermicompost whenused at proper proportions. Thus, the growth and yieldparameters were significantly (p B 0.05) greater in T2(75 % N through vermicompost) than in T1 (100 % Nthrough vermicompost) and T3 (50 % N through vermicompost).Many growth parameters of T1 were lower than those in the control indicating some deleterious effect ofvermicompost at higher concentrations. The combinedapplication of tendu leaf vermicompost and urea increasedthe growth and yield of Phaseolus vulgaris significantly(p B 0.05). The maximum grain yield was due to combinedapplication of vermicompost at 25 % N throughvermicompost plus 75 % N through urea.Conclusions The pot trial experiments suggested that thequantity of chemical fertilizer for French bean could bereduced by 25–50 % due to combined application of vermicompostand chemical fertilizer. However, application oftendu leaf vermicompost alone at higher concentrations mayreduce growth parameters and yield of P. vulgaris.