International Journal of Agricultural Sciences

International Journal of Agricultural Sciences ISSN 2167-0447 Vol. 6 (10), pp. 1178-1182, October, 2016. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper                                    

Drip and micro sprinkler irrigation on pollen characteristics in cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.)

C.Krishnamoorthy* and K.Rajamani**

*Assistant Professor, Vanavarayar Institute of Agriculture, Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, India.

**Professor and Head, Department of Medicinal and Aromatic Crops, TNAU, Tamil Nadu, India.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

Received 17 September, 2014; Revised 18 October, 2014; Accepted 21 October, 2014 and Published 24 November, 2016

Abstract                                                                                                                                       

An experiment was conducted during 2010 and 2011 to investigate the impact of N, P and K fertilizers through fertigation on pollen features of cocoa was conducted at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India. The study was laid out in randomized block design with thirteen treatment combinations. The study shown that, fertigation with 125 % Recommended Fertilizer Dose as water soluble fertilizer through fertigation by micro sprinkler irrigation (T₁₀) recorded the highest number of pollen characters viz., area of pollen grain (504.1 µm²), equivalent diameter of the pollen grain (27.4 microns), radius of the pollen grain (13.3 microns), pollen output (34.9), pollen viability (89.2 %), pollen germination (88.1 %) and pollen tube length.

Key words: Fertigation, fertilizer, drip, micro sprinkler, pollen grains.