Effect of different levels of charcoal and nitrogen on growth and yield traits of broccoli

English. Saabunud / Received 19.11.2021 ; Aktsepteeritud / Accepted 05.02.2022 ; Avaldatud veebis / Published online 05.02.2022 ; Vastutav autor / Corresponding author: Prayusha Bhattarai; [email protected]

English. Charcoal is a carbon-rich organic matter, which serves as asoil conditioner when applied to agricultural fields. When used incombination with nitrogen fertilizers, it has a synergistic effect that boostsplant growth. However, charcoal application alone or in combination withnitrogen fertilizer on vegetable crops is not fully understood. Therefore, apots experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of charcoal andnitrogen levels on the growth and yield of broccoli. The variety of broccoliused was Centauro. The experiment was laid out in a two-factorCompletely Randomized Design with five replications during the winterseason of 2019–2020 at Sundarbazar, Lamjung, Nepal. Treatmentsconsisted of four levels of charcoal (0%, 2.5%, 5%, and 7.5% per weightof soil) and three levels of nitrogen (0, 187.5 and 375 kg N ha–1). Resultsrevealed that increasing nitrogen levels from 0 to 375 kg N ha–1significantly increased the number of leaves, leaf area, head diameter, headweight and aboveground biomass. The maximum head weight per plant(258.77 g) was found by applying a nitrogen level of 375 kg N ha–1 andthe lowest value at 0 kg N ha–1. The application of increasing levels ofcharcoal significantly improved root length, leaf area and head diameter.It was concluded from the results that the optimum nitrogen level forbroccoli production could be 375 kg N ha–1.