Role of Vermicomposts Quality on Zinc and Boron Nutrition and Growth of Cauliflower

Application of vermicompost is considered to be a good option to safe supply of micronutrients for crop production. Again, the quality of vermicompost varied with the earthworm species and their feeding materials used. A study was conducted to find out the variable roles of vermicomposts produced from various sources to meet the Zn and B requirement of cauliflower grown on a nutrient-deficient light-textured soil. Six treatment combinations including one control treatment and one treatment having 100% chemical sources of Zn-B (3 kg Zn ha(-1) + 2 kg B ha(-1)) were tested. The other treatments comprises with four different types of vermicomposts @2.0 t ha(-1) from various sources along with Zn @1.5 kg ha(-1) and B@1.0 kg ha(-1) for each of the treatments. The vermicomposts used in different treatments were produced from Eisenia fetida-cow dung, Eudrilus eugeniae-cow dung, E. fetida-cow dung + poultry litter and E. eugeniae-cow dung + poultry litter combination. The treatment containing 3 kg Zn ha(-1) and 2 kg B ha(-1) from chemical fertilizers performed better than the control treatment. There was huge incidence (59.17%) of hollow heart disease in control treatment, but very little evidence (0.83-4.17%) of such incidence was recorded in other treatments. Again, the vermicompost containing treatments played superior role in supplying Zn-B to cauliflower than the sole chemical Zn-B-containing treatment. The vermicompost produced from Eisenia fetida-cow dung combination performed better than the other vermicomposts and the highest marketable curd yield (46.37 t ha(-1)), and total yield (67.09 t ha(-1)) was obtained using this treatment. In case of only curd production, the role of different vermicomposts was found similar.