Effects of organic and inorganic fertilizers on soil fertility, nutrient uptake and yield of French basil

Field experiments were conducted at ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru during kharif season of 2015 and 2016 with nine treatments and three replications in a randomized block design to find out the effects of integrated nutrient management on post-harvest soil nutrient availability, nutrient uptake and fresh and dry herbage yield of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum). The results revealed that combined application of recommended FYM (10 t ha-1) and NPK (160: 80: 80 kg ha-1) registered the highest fresh herbage (39.95 and 19.37 t ha-1), dry herbage yield (8.43 and 3.76 t ha-1) and essential oil yield (199.7 and 107.58 kg ha-1) in the main and ratoon crop, respectively. The maximum nutrient uptake in the main crop was recorded as N (155.67 and 113.19 kg ha-1), P (43.80 and 32.43 kg ha-1) and K (163.33 and 116.16 kg ha-1) and in ratoon (56.43 and 26.65 kg ha-1), (16.14 and 14.01 kg ha-1) and (55.65 and 39.27 kg ha-1) in first and second year, respectively. Highest nitrogen and potassium availability in post-harvest soils was recorded with application of FYM (10 t ha-1) + 100% recommended N through FYM + bio-fertilizer consortia (227 and 236.33 kg ha-1) and (296.80 and 340.60 kg ha-1) while, the application of 160: 80: 80 kg NPK ha-1 + FYM (10 t ha-1) i.e., T9 recorded the highest available phosphorus (42.31 and 58.15 kg ha-1) during 2015 and 2016, respectively. The results from this study demonstrated that organic manure along with conventional fertilizer can maximize fresh and dry weight, oil yield, nutrient absorption as a results of increasing the soil fertility.