Effect of tendu (Diospyros melanoxylon RoxB.) leaf vermicompost on growth and yield of French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Tendu (Diospyros melanoxylon RoxB.) leaf is widely used in India in the form of wrapper for making a crude smoking stick popularly known as “Beedi”. Solapur city of Maharashtra state has large number of small beedi making units. Large quantity waste from these industries in the form of trimmed leaf residues is available as feed material for preparation of vermicompost. The present investigations were aimed to study effect of vermicompost prepared from such novel leaf residues as the tendu leaves on the growth and yield of Phaseolus vulgaris under greenhouse conditions. The seeds of French bean were sown in cement pots containing soil alone (control), soil with various concentrations of vermicompost alone, soil with various concentrations of urea only and different admixtures of vermicompost and urea. Results The study revealed that the seed germination, shoot and root length, shoot and root fresh weights, shoot and root dry weights, thousand grain weight and grain weight per plant increased significantly (p ? 0.05) compared to control due to application of vermicompost when used at proper proportions. Thus, the growth and yield parameters were significantly (p ? 0.05) greater in T2 (75 % N through vermicompost) than in T1 (100 % N through vermicompost) and T3 (50 % N through vermicompost). Many growth parameters of T1 were lower than those in the control indicating some deleterious effect of vermicompost at higher concentrations. The combined application of tendu leaf vermicompost and urea increased the growth and yield of Phaseolus vulgaris significantly (p ? 0.05). The maximum grain yield was due to combined application of vermicompost at 25 % N through vermicompost plus 75 % N through urea. Conclusions The pot trial experiments suggested that the quantity of chemical fertilizer for French bean could be reduced by 25?50 % due to combined application of vermicompost and chemical fertilizer. However, application of tendu leaf vermicompost alone at higher concentrations may reduce growth parameters and yield of P. vulgaris.