Shredded Hard Stems of Pruning Litters Supported the Growth of Young Tea Plants by Supplementing Nitrogen in Soil: Evaluating Suitable Combination of Urea and Prunings

ABSTRACT

Tea is an evergreen shrub, and tea bushes (plants) are periodically pruned at 3-year intervals. This practice generates tons of pruning litters (leaves and stems) in tea gardens. In spite of availability, the hard nature and slow decomposition rate limit the use of pruning litters as soil amendments. In this study, an attempt was made to cycle pruning litters in shredded form to evaluate their effect on young tea plants under greenhouse condition. It was observed that shredded prunings were decomposed in soil within study duration and enhanced nitrate-N content in the soil. The study revealed that different parameters like plant height, biomass weight, and N uptake were enhanced due to the application of suitable combinations of pruning litter and urea in the soil. Based on this study, it could be concluded that application of shredded prunings had potential to replace up to 15% of recommended urea during tea cultivation.

KEYWORDS:

• Nitrogen
• plant nutrition
• pruning recycling
• soil fertility
• tea

Acknowledgment

The authors are thankful to the Director, TTRI, TRA, Jorhat, for providing necessary facilities for conducting the experiment.

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Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the funding from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India (DST/IS-STAC/CO2-SR-243/2015).