Growth, Flowering and Yield of Water Chestnut as Influenced by Water Hyacinth in Shallow Waterlogged Condition

摘要

Water chestnut (Trapa bispinosa. Roxb.) was grown either alone or in presence of water hyacinth. Up to two months after planting, the growth of water chestnut was about 40% faster than water hyacinth and in the presence of water hyacinth, water chestnut showed only 19% reduction in growth. But at later stage water hyacinth completely smothered water chestnut growth and reduced flowering. The bearing of fruit was also reduced accordingly following pattern of reduced flowering in water chestnut plants grown along with water hyacinth. The trend was apparent in both red colored (exocarp) and green colored (exocarp) fruit cultivars. The extent of reduction of flowering and fruit formation was more in green exocarp cultivars man red exocarp cultivars. The water chestnut fruit yield was also severely reduced from 3.96 to 0.25 t/ha after 120 days after planting, in the presence of water hyacinth.