STUDIES ON THE EFFECT OF SEWAGE WATER IRRIGATION ON GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF MULBERRY (MORUSINDICA L.)

摘要

Water plays a significant role as one of the major inputs in mulberry cultivation. Though bore well water is a common source of irrigation to mulberry in South India , its availability is getting scarce day by day due to quick ground water depletion. Thus farmers often fail to irrigate their mulberry gardens according to the norms of irrigation. This ultimately affects the soil moisture status and nutrient uptake of the plants resulting in poor leaf yield, leaf quality and cocoon crops. In recentyears, it has been observed that the farmers are using raw sewage water more frequently as a source of irrigation for mulberry cultivation in many parts of Karnataka with intensive sericulture (Bongale and Krishna, 2000) due to limitation of irrigation from bore well. Thus it was imperative to study the impact of using sewage water in mulberry cultivation.