Effect of application of pome and recommended fertilizer on immature oil palm intercropping with pineapple, low country wet zone (wl2a) in Sri Lanka Hettiarachchi V. D.1, Dissanayake S. M.2*, Palihakkara I. R.3 1Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna, Mapalana, Kamburupitiya, Sri Lanka 2Elpitiya Plantations PLC, 305, Vauxhall Street, Colombo 2, Sri Lanka 3Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna, Mapalana, Kamburupitiya, Sri Lanka * Corresponding Author: dissatri@gmail.com
Online published on 4 January, 2021. Abstract Oil palm plantations in Sri Lanka have spread over 10,000 hectares’ in the wet zone of the Island In immature plantations, land productivity can be increased with some selected intercrops. Pineapple is one of the high demanded fruit crop and is a suitable candidate for intercrop. Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is a problematic waste to manage by mill operators which is generated during processing of fresh fruit bunch (FFB). The objectives of the study were to evaluate the efficiency of POME, effective land utilization, ground cover efficiency of intercrop and improvement of soil physicochemical properties. A field trial conducted at Thalgaswela estate (WL2a) in Galle district, Sri Lanka from 2019 June to 2020 June. Experiment was designed with Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with seven treatments and three replicates. Fertilizers were applied to the pineapple plots according to the department of Agriculture (DOA) recommendations. Growth parameters were taken at monthly intervals and chlorophyll content were measured. Soil physical parameters were measured at the beginning and at the end of the experiment. Results were statistically analyzed with Minitab software. According to the experimental data, oil palm with cover crop and pineapple along with recommended fertilizer were shown effective land utilization, higher number of leaves per plant, highest leaf length, highest spade meter chlorophyll content, soil has highest moisture content. Treatment seven (T7) shows significantly higher number of fruit forming during the research period. To come to a firm recommendation on POME as an organic amendment and performance of pineapple yield, research should be continued for at least more than two yield cycles. Top Keywords Intercropping, Young oil palm, POME, Sri Lanka, Pineapple. Top |