IDENTIFICATION OF OPTIMUM COMBINATION OF PROPORTION OF VERMICOMPOST IN THE SOIL-BASED POTTING MIX AND POT VOLUME FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PAPER POT SEEDLINGS OF VEGETABLES

摘要

An investigation was conducted to identify the best combination of proportion of vermicompost in soil-based potting mix and pot volume for the production of paper pot seedlings suitable for mechanical transplanting. The best combination of the potting mix and pot volume is the one that produces seedlings with high growth of root and shoot biomasses at the end of seedling stage, low in cost and light in weight. Cubical shaped paper pots of 50 cm3 volume filled with potting mix of 25% vermicompost and 75% soil and sand in equal proportion by volume was found to be best for the large scale production of paper pot seedlings of tomato, eggplant, and chili peppers. The paper pots were found to be firm at the end of seedling stage and variations in their dimensions could be accommodated in fully automatic transplanters with horizontal chain conveyor type seedling feeding and metering devices.View full textDownload full textKeywordspaper pot seedlings, vermicompost, potting mix, pot volume, non-dominated set, fully automatic transplanterRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01904167.2012.684121