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Comparison of Dry Matter and Nutrient Partitioning in Organically and Conventionally Grown Tea
By Admin | July 1, 2009
Organic farming has become increasingly popular in the recent past, with the concerns over unfavourable health and environmental impacts of synthetic inputs used in conventional farming. As a consequence, many tea estates in Sri Lanka have converted to organic cultivation. However, the productivity of tea is reported to decrease upon conversion from existing conventional, inorganic system to organic system.
Comparison of the organic and conventional systems, scientific validation and justification will help in proper establishment of organic tea production systems in the country. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare dry matter and nutrient partitioning in organically and conventionally grown tea.
The dry matter and nutrient (N, P and K) partitioning was studied in the tea bushes of the TRI OR-CON trial at St Coombs Estate, Talawakele. The tea plants of cultivar DT1 have been field- planted in 1996 to compare three organic treatments with conventional: Organic treatments are tea waste, compost and neem oil cake as soil amendments. Bushes were carefully uprooted at each pruning (in the years 2000, 2004 and 2008) and dry matter and nutrient partitioning into different parts was studied.
The partitioning of dry matter and nutrients were not significantly different between the four treatments and between organically and conventionally managed tea bushes during all three pruning times. The highest amount of dry matter was partitioned into the stems (41-67% in different ages and treatments) followed by root system (13-27%). Lowest amount of dry matter was partitioned to the leaves of the bush (9-29%). However, the highest amount of nitrogen and other nutrients partitioned to the flush in all treatments, which ranged between 3.6% and 4.1%. The fallen leaves and branches also contained a significant amount of nutrients and it shows the importance of fallen leaves as well as applying pruning residues for nutrient recycling.
Key words: organic, conventional, pruning, dry matter partitioning, nutrient partitioning
Mohotti A. J.1, Wekumbura W. G. C.2, Damayanthi N.3 and Mohotti K. M.3
1 Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
2 Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Sabaragamuwa University, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka
3 Tea Research Institute, Talawakele, Sri Lanka
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