Articles
RESPONSE OF JAVA CITRONELLA(CYMBOPOGON WINTERIANUS JOWITT.) TO HARVESTING INTERVALS WITH DIFFERENT NITROGEN LEVELS
The annual requirement of the oil in India is about 500 tonnes and only a small fraction of the requirement is produced in West Bengal.
To determine the effect of nitrogen and harvesting intervals, the present experiment was carried out with 4 levels of nitrogen (0, 40, 80, 120 kg/ha) and 2 harvesting intervals (3 harvests and 6 harvests in a year at intervals of 4 months and 2 months respectively) at Calcutta University Farm during 1978–80 under field conditions.
Significant increase in the yield of herb and oil by the application of nitrogenous fertilizer has been observed.
The quality of oil has also been improved due to the application of nitrogenous fertiliser.
Harvesting at intervals of every 4 months i.e. 3 harvests in a year has resulted in a significantly higher yield of herb and oil as compared to harvesting intervals of every 2 months.
Significantly higher geraniol content has been noticed under harvesting intervals of every 4 months than harvesting intervals of 2 months.
The best treatment combination i.e. application of 120 kg N/ha and 3 harvests in a year at intervals of 4 months gave 367.63 q of herb/ ha and 371.33 kg of oil/ha with a geraniol content 87.89 per cent.