Effect of nitrogen and phosphorus levels on the growth and yield of carrot, Dacus carota L.

The study embodied in this thesis was carried out to evaluate the effect of nitrogen and phosphorus levels on the growth and yield of carrot, at Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, during 1998-99. A good seed bed was prepared by ploughing and levelling. The seeds of a popular local variety were grown in a three replicated randomized complete block design having net plot area of 6 square meters at the rate of 4.0 kg per hectare on ridges. The inter and intra row spacing was managed at 5 X 15 cm. Six N-P levels, viz., 00-00, 15- 10, 30-20, 45-20, 60-40 and 75-50 kg per hectare were evaluated. The statistical analysis revealed that the nitrogen along with phosphorus applied at different rates had significantly influenced the growth and yield parameters of carrot (P less than 0.01). The higher N-P level of 75-50 kg per hectare produced significantly greater length of Leaves, length of root, length of leaves + root, greater weight of single root, weight of leaves + root per plant, and root yield per plot or per hectare as compared to rest treatments. N when applied in combination with P at the rate of 75-50 kg per hectare, produced maximum length of leaves (44.70 cm), length of root (23.71 cm), length of leaves + root (68.41 cm), weight of leaves (58.58 g), single root (61.84 g), weight of leaves + root (120.41 g), root yield per plot (7.89 kg) and yield per hectare (13.157 m.t). N-P level of 60-40 kg per hectare ranked second and produced leaves length 10.73 cm, root length 22.33 cm, length of leaves + root. 63.06 cm, weight of leaves 54.69 g per plant single root weight 57.09 g, weight of leaves + root 111.77 g, root yield per plot 7.34 kg and yield per hectare 12.235 m.t. Minimum values for all the growth and yield components were recorded in case of control, where no fertilizer was applied. The critical examination of the results deduced that the soil under experiment was deficient in N-P, because there was a successive improvement in all the growth and yield components with each increased N-P level. Thus, in the present experiment the highest N-P level of 75-50 kg per hectare remained better as compared to rest N-P levels.