Manurial value Assessment of Coir Pith through Field Study
Abstract
Pot culture studies with coir pith compost indicated that this material in combination with soil and sand can be a suitable for farmyard manure in potting mixtures. When used alone also, coir pith compost was found to be a good medium for the container cultivation. The only practical problem is the use of coir pith alone appears to be the anchorage. Apart of this study with nutrient supplementation had indicated that the only major plant nutrient element among N, P, and K that is deficient in composted coir pith is nitrogen.
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Introduction
Use of composted coir pith for agricultural use as a substitute for common organic manures had been tried experimentally decomposed coir pith has very high moisture retention capacity and its wetability is much better than peat (Evans and Stamps, 1996). The decomposition of lignin present in coir pith results in the formation of humic fractions (Kndalli et al., 2001) It had been often suggested that this product may also be used as a component of potting mixtures for container cultivation and even as an exclusive medium for soilless cultivation of indoor ornamental plants. Being a plant product, coirpith is expected to contain all plant nutrient elements and have release all of these on decomposition. However, the level of nutrient availability in this organic manure requires to be assessed. The present study was taken up to assess these aspects and the specific objectives are listed below. 1) Assess the suitability of coir pith compost as a component of potting mixture for the container cultivation 2) Test of use of coirpith compost as on exclusive medium for soil less cultivation of plants.
Evaluate the nutrient status of this product when used alone and also in combination with sand and soil.
