Response of upland taro (Colocasia esculenta) to varying water regimes under humid tropical conditions of India

S Sunitha; J Sreekumar; J Suresh Kumar

doi:10.48165/

Authors

S Sunitha ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram-695 017, Kerala, India
J Sreekumar ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram-695 017, Kerala, India
J Suresh Kumar ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram-695 017, Kerala, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.48165/

Keywords:

Cormel yield, Drip irrigation, Water stress, Water-use efficiency

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted on taro (Colocasia esculenta L. Schott) during 2017, 2018 and 2019 with three spells of irrigation (irrigation for 2 months and remaining period under stress, irrigation for 4 months and remaining period under stress, irrigation for 6 months) and four levels of drip irrigation, viz. 75%, 100%, 125% and 150% of water requirement of the crop (ETc) in factorial design. Pooled analysis of three years data revealed significant difference in growth and yield as well as water-use efficiency under stress and non-stress conditions. Moisture stress two and four months after planting resulted in reduction in leaf area index (-21 and -19%), number of tillers ( -27 and -6%), root to shoot ratio (-60 and -43%), cormel to corm ratio (-69 and -53%), cormel yield (-58 and -28%), water-use efficiency (-32 and -36%) and increase in corm yield (+34 and +52%) respectively, compared to no stress. Drip irrigation for six months @ 100% ETc recorded optimum growth, cormel yield (21.08 tonnes/ha) with water-use efficiency (0.4 g/L) in upland condtion.

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References

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