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A field experiment to study the influence of fertigation of N, P and K fertilizers on physiological parameters of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) was conducted at the Department of Spices and Plantation Crops, Horticultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during January 2010 - December 2011. The experiment was laid out with thirteen treatments replicated three times in a randomized block design. The fertigated plants especially with water soluble fertilizers were observed to be in a better physiological state at different stages of crop growth when compared to plants fertilized in the conventional manner. Among the treatments, T4 (125 per cent 'Recommended Dose of Fertilizers' as water soluble fertilizers (WSF) through drip irrigation) increased the physiological parameters viz., leaf area (325.4 cm2), specific leaf weight (6.48 mg cm-2), total chlorophyll content (2.01 mg g-1), nitrate reductase (1.57 μg of NO2 g-1 h-1), peroxidase (0.89 D430 nm g-1h-1), C/N ratio in leaves (14.6 %) and stomatal characters like stomatal length (17.3 microns), stomatal breadth (13.9 microns), stomatal size (225.8 mm2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment on arabica coffee (Coffea arabica L.) genotypes for biometrical traits evaluation was carried out at Chettalli in Karnataka during the period 2004 - 2007 to study the variation in the vegetative and yield component traits. Eighty five genotypes exhibited significant variation for all the traits in three seasons of the study. The per se performance of present study revealed that the traits viz., plant height, bush diameter, stem girth, number of primary branches, length of primary branches, internodal length, leaf area, number of flowers per axil, number of flowers per node, fruit length, fruit width, number of fruits per node, fruit set percentage, weight of fruits per plant and percentage of fruit fertility were high in Tafarikela, Maragogipe, Cauvery x Sln.9 and S.12, Kaffa. For the trait viz., percentage of A grade beans and weight of 100 A grade beans, the genotypes Cioccie, Agaro, Maragogipe and Taferikela recorded the highest per se values. Mean percentage of caffeine content was higher in the genotype Kents, closely followed by Agaro, Maragogipe, Tafarikela and Cauvery x Sln. 9. Hence the genotypes can be exploited in selection for further breeding programmes for the respective traits. The genotypes Taferikela, Maragogipe, Cauvery x Sln.9, S12, Kaffa and Agaro recorded higher fruit length and fruit width. Mean performance of clean coffee per hectare showed that the genotype Tafarikela registered the highest value followed by Maragogipe, Cauvery x Sln.9, S12, Kaffa and Agaro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field experiment to study the influence of fertigation of N, P and K fertilizers on physiological parameters of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) was conducted at the Department of Spices and Plantation Crops, Horticultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during January 2010 - December 2011. The experiment was laid out with thirteen treatments replicated three times in a randomized block design. The fertigated plants especially with water soluble fertilizers were observed to be in a better physiological state at different stages of crop growth when compared to plants fertilized in the conventional manner. Among the treatments, T4 (125 per cent 'Recommended Dose of Fertilizers' as water soluble fertilizers (WSF) through drip irrigation) increased the physiological parameters viz., leaf area (325.4 cm²), specific leaf weight (6.48 mg cm-2), total chlorophyll content (2.01 mg g-1), nitrate reductase (1.57 µg of NO2 g-1 h-1), peroxidase (0.89 D430 nm g-1h-1), C/N ratio in leaves (14.6%) and stomatal characters like stomatal length (17.3 microns), stomatal breadth (13.9 microns), stomatal size (225.8 mm²). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]