International Journal of Horticulture 2015, Vol.5, No.3, 1
-
12
1
Research Report Open Access
Effect of Herbicide residues on Soil Microorganisms in Turmeric
E. Sathiyavani
1
, N. K. Prabhakaran
2
, C. Chinnusamy
3
, R. Shanmugasundram
2
, K. Soorianathsundaram
4
1. Department of Agronomy, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, INDIA
2. Professor, Department of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, INDIA
3. Dean, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, INDIA
4. Professor, Department of Horticulture, HC & RI, TNAU, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, INDIA
Corresponding author email
International Journal of Horticulture, 2015, Vol.5, No.3 doi: 10.5376/ijh.2015.05.0003
Received: 18 Feb., 2015
Accepted: 03 Mar., 2015
Published: 12 Mar., 2015
Copyright
© 2015 Sathiyavani et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Sathiyavani et al., 2015, Effect of Herbicide residues on Soil Microorganisms in Turmeric, International Journal of Horticulture, 2015, Vol.5, No.3 1-12 (doi:
Abstract
Field investigation were undertaken to evaluate the integrated weed management with pre and post emergence herbicides in
turmeric at the Agricultural Research Station, Bhavanisagar of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, during
kharif
season of 2012 and
to elucidate information on bacterial, fungal and actinomycetes population due to the effect of herbicide residues. The bacterial,
fungal and actinomycetes populations were recorded at 3, 15, 25, 50 and 75 DAP. The experiments were laid out in Randomized
block design with three replications. The treatments comprised of different weed management practices wherein PE herbicides
viz
.,
metribuzin 0.7 kg ha
-1
, pendimethalin 1.0 kg ha
-1
and atrazine 0.75 kg ha
-1
followed by either POE fenoxaprop 67 g ha
-1
+ metsulfuron 4
g ha
-1
(Tank mix) on 45 DAP or HW on 45 and 75 DAP or straw mulch 10 t ha
-1
on 10 DAP + HW on 75 DAP, all PE oxyfluorfen
0.30 kg ha
-1
, PE oxadiargyl 0.25 kg ha
-1
, POE glyphosate 1.03 kg ha
-1
and 1.54 kg ha
-1
on 25 DAP followed by HW on 45 and 75
DAP, HW on 25, 45 and 75 DAP and unweeded check were imposed. In both the experiments, observations were recorded on soil
microorganisms viz., populations of bacterial, fungal and actinomycetes were observed at different days after planting of rhizome. In
this experiments showed herbicide application of PE metribuzin 0.7 kg ha
-1
, PE pendimethalin 1.0 kg ha
-1
, PE atrazine 0.75 kg ha
-1
,
PE oxyfluorfen 0.3 kg ha
-1
and PE oxadiargyl 0.25 kg ha
-1
recorded significantly lower microbial population immediately after
herbicide spraying (3 DAP) than the treatments not having any herbicides and thereafter increased.
Keywords
Herbicide residues; Soil microbial populations; Turmeric
Introduction
Turmeric (
Curcuma longa
L.), a herbaceous
perennial plant, belonging to the family
Zinziberaceae under the order Scitaminae is one of
the most valuable spices all over the world. It is also
called as “Indian saffron”. Turmeric (
Curcuma longa
L.) is one of the second most important spice crops
after chilli. India accounts for 78 per cent in world
production and 60 per cent in world export share
(Angles et al.,
2011). Among the several spices,
turmeric ranks second in foreign exchange earning,
being next only to chilli. The turmeric is native of
South-East Asia, cultivated extensively in India,
Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia,
Bangladesh, Taiwan and China. The major states in
India which grow turmeric are Andhra Pradesh, Orissa,
Tamil Nadu, Assam, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Andhra Pradesh alone occupies 35 per cent of area
and 47 per cent of production. In Tamil Nadu, it is
grown in the districts of Erode, Coimbatore,
Dharmapuri and Salem. Erode district alone contributes
more than 10 per cent of the national production
(Kandiannan and Chandaragiri,
2004). Indian turmeric
is regarded as the best in the world market because of
its high curcumin content. During the periods between
April 2011 to January 2012, the turmeric export from
India was 67, 000 tonnes valued at 6438 million
and contributed to 12.8 per cent of total spice export
(Satya Sundaram, 2012). Though, India leads in
production of turmeric with 78 per cent of global
production, its average productivity is quite low,
mainly due to the competition offered by weeds.
Weeds are the most severe and widespread biological
constraint to crop production and cause invisible damage
till the crop is harvested. Heavy infestation of weeds
comprising of grasses, sedges and broadleaved weeds
poses a big challenge for turmeric production in India.
Herbicides are the key products in sustaining large
scale agricultural production but in order to minimize
agro-environmental concerns regarding their use,
continued assessment of their behaviour under
