Effect of different mulching on spinach plant .

04/08/2022 To 10/08/2022

Introduction:

Organic mulches are those natural origin materials which can decompose naturally, like agricultural waste are used as much, such as bark chips, grass clippings, wheat or paddy straw, plant leaves, compost, rice hulls and sawdust etc.

Inorganic mulching can be natural (like river rocks and gravel ) or synthetic (like landscape trap , rubber), but they were never alive, so they do not decompose.

Without mulching means plant growing without organic and Inorganic mulching.

Above mulching trials are taken for spinach plant.

Needs of project:

1. To observe different plants growth in different mulching
2. Control evaporation losses in mulching, to observed morphological charactertics by different methods like organic mulch, inorganic mulch and without mulch
3. In which method spinach plants gives high yield.  
4. To select best method to which we will get high yield of spinach plants.

Objectives

1. Effect of different mulching on spinach plant.

1)Organic mulching: Agricultural waste

2)Inorganic mulching: Black polyethene paper

3)Without mulching:

2. To calculated different types of parameters.

Before harvesting:

1. Water holding capacity of soil
2. Soil testing( NPK of the soil)
3. Moisture content of soil
4. Humidity
5. Temperature
6. Water quantity
7. Average height of plant
8. Average leaf size of plants
9. Average numbers of leaf’s

 After harvesting of spinach:

1. Leaf width
2. Leaf length
3. Area of leaf
4. Numbers of leaf
5. Wet mass
6. Yield

Flow chart:

Procedure:

Cleaning the area for plantation of spinach. take measurement of the area were I do project calculated the area were to plant the spinach plant. and put the layer of soil in that bed.

16/08/2022 To 20/08/2022

Calculation:

Area= l.b

length= 260cm= 2.6m

Breadth= 184cm = 1.8m

2.6×1.8= 4.6m2

After calculated the area divided the bed into three box because i want to do organic mulching in one part, inorganic in second part and without mulching in other part. and each box is 0.86m X 0.86m.

Put the soil again in the small amount

Applying mulching paper for the inorganic mulching of spinach. cut the mulching paper in the size of a box.

Plantation of spinach seed in organic, inorganic and without mulching beds. Also measuring row to row distance between two plants. plantation of spinach on that bed is 15cm by 15cm, row in that bed is 5. Measuring row to row distance in inorganic bed after applying mulching paper for the spinach seeds plantation.

Testing soil in organic, inorganic and without mulching bed where plantation of spinach is done.

finding the Nitrogen, Phosphorus and potassium in the soil

Sr Number	Nutrient in the soil	Result
1	Nitrogen ( N)	very low
2	Phosphorus (P)	very low
3	potassium (K)	very high

22/08/2022 to 27/08/2022

water holding capacity of soil is required to quantity of to be given to the soil .

Procedure :

1. Take 100 gm of dry soil in the plot.
2. take a measuring cylinder 1000ml.
3. Fold the filter paper into the corners. and put into the measuring cylinder
4. After that add 100 gm of soil to that cone shaped filter paper.
5. 100gm of soil was taken and 200ml water in that soil. measuring the water in beaker.
6. After that observed 120ml of water quantity in the measuring cylinder.
7. Water holding capacity of soil was determined by using the following formula.

Water holding capacity :

= ( Total water added – Water retained in the measuring) ÷ Dry weight of sample X 100

{[ (200ml – 120)÷100}X 100

= 80%

29/08/2022 To 3/09/2022

Quantity of water given to the bed.

Sr. NO	Date	Organic mulching	Inorganic mulching	Without mulching
1	20/08/2022	2lit	2lit	2lit
2	21/08/2022	2.5lit	2lit	2.5lit
3	22/08/2022	3lit	2.5lit	2lit
4	23/08/2022	2lit	2lit	2lit
5	24/08/2022	2lit	2lit	2lit
6	25/08/2022	2.5lit	2.5lit	2.5lit
7	26/08/2022	2.5lit	2.5lit	2.5lit
8	27/08/2022	3lit	3lit	3lit
9	28/08/2022	2.5lit	2.5lit	2.5lit
10	29/08/2022	3.5lit	3.5lit	3.5lit
11	30/08/2022	2lit	2lit	2lit
12	31/08/2022	2.5lit	2.5lit	2.5lit
13	1/09/2022	3lit	3lit	3lit
14	2/09/2022	2lit	2.5lit	2.5lit
15	3/09/2022	2.5lit	2.5lit	2.5lit
16	4/09/2022	2lit	2lit	2lit
17	5/09/2022	2lit	2lit	2lit
18	6/09/2022	3lit	3lit	3.5lit
19	7/09/2022	2lit	2lit	2lit
20	8/09/2022	3lit	2.5lit	2lit
21	9/09/2022	2.5lit	2.5lit	3lit
22	10/09/2022	2 lit	2 lit	2lit
23	11/09/2022	2 lit	2 lit	2 lit
24	12/09/2022	2 lit	2.5	2 lit
25	14/09/2022	1.5 lit	1.5 lit	2.5 lit
26	15/09/2022	4 lit	2 lit	4 lit
27	16/09/2022	2 lit	2.5 lit	4lit
28	17/09/2022	2 lit	3 lit	4 lit
29	18/09/2022	2 lit	3 lit	4 lit
30	19/09/2022	2 lit	4 lit	4 lit
31	20/09/2022	2 lit	4 lit	4 lit
32	21/09/2022	2 lit	4 lit	4 lit
33	22/09/2022	2 lit	4 lit	4 lit
34	23/09/2022	2 lit	4 lit	4 lit
35	24/09/2022	2 lit	3 lit	4 lit
36	25/09/2022	2 lit	3 lit	4 lit
37	26/09/2022	2 lit	3 lit	4 lit
38	27/09/2022	2 lit	3 lit	4 lit
49	28/09/2022	2 lit	3 lit	4 lit
40	29/09/2022	2 lit	3 lit	4 lit
41	30/09/2022	2 lit	3 lit	4 lit
42	1/10/2022	2 lit	3 lit	4 lit
43	2/10/222	2 lit	3 lit	4 lit
44	3/10/2022	2 lit	3 lit	4 lit
45	4/10/222	2 lit	3 lit	4 lit

5/09/2022 To 10/09/2022

Calculated soil moisture in plantation of spinach bed and without plantation of spinach.

Procedure:

1.Take a soil sample from the spinach bed. Also take soil sample from non planted bed.
2.Weight that sample by using weighing machine. and the weight of both sample is 90gm.
3.And kept it in the oven for 105 degree Celsius.
4. Note down the reading after every 1 hrs.
5. And stop the process when reading is constant.

After 20 days growth of spinach plant in organic , inorganic and without mulching. we planted 50 seeds in organic mulch and after 20 days 27 plants are grown. inorganic mulch planted 50 seeds nd after 20 days 14 seeds are grown. in without mulching 50 seeds are plantated after 20 days 31 seeds are grown.

After 20 days growth of spinach plant.

Average height of plant after 20 days

Sr. no	Types of mulching	Average height of plant after 20 days
1	Organic mulching	4.8
2	Inorganic mulching	3.4
3	Without mulching	5.8

Growth of spinach after 2 days.

Average height of plant after 2 days

Sr. no	Types of mulching	Average height of plant after 3 days
1	Organic mulching	5.9
2	Inorganic mulching	5.2
3	Without mulching	7.6

Checking height after 22 days i observed that the height of plants in organic, inorganic and without mulching is increased. average height of plants increased in organic mulching by 1.1 cm , average height of inorganic mulching plants is increased by 1.8cm also the height of without mulching plants is increased by 1.8cm.

12/09/2022 To 17/09/2022

12/09/2022

day 23

12/09/2022

Nutrients dosing:

Adding the following nutrient to the plants :

Sr. no	Nutrients	for 1 Liter in mg	For 8 Liter in gm
1	Potassium Nitrate ( KNO3)	500	4
2	Calcium Nitrate (Ca(NO3)2	192	1.536
3	Monoammoniumphospours ( NH3PO4)फॉस्पर्स (NH4H2PO4)	83	0.664
4	Potassium sulphate ( K2SO4)	288	2.304
5	Magnesium sulphate ( MgSO4)	631	5.044

Height of plant :

Sr. no	Types of the mulching	Height of the plants ( day 25)
1	organic mulching	9.5 cm
2	Inorganic mulching	11.7 cm
3	Without mulching	11.5 cm

13/09/2022

Day 24

checking the height of plants after 1 day organic and inorganic mulching plant height is same but the height of without mulching plant is increased. I observed that the height of without mulching plant is increased by 2mm.

Sr.no	Types of mulching	Height of plant
1	Organic mulching	9.5cm
2	Inorganic mulching	11.7cm
3	Without mulching	11.7 cm

14/09/2022

Day 25

Checking the height of plants at day 25 the height of plant is increased . The of organic mulching plant is increased by 2mm, height of inorganic mulching plant is increased by 1 cm, also height of without mulching plant is increased by 1.3 cm.

Sr. no	Types of mulching	Height
1	Organic mulching	9.7 cm
2	Inorganic mulching	12.1 cm
3	Without mulching	13 cm

15/09/2022

Day 26

Checking the height of plant at day 26 , height of organic mulch plant is increased by 1mm, height of inorganic mulch plant is increased by 4mm, also the height of without mulch is increased by 7mm.

Sr.No	Types of mulching	Height of plant
1	Organic mulching	9.8 cm
2	Inorganic mulching	12.5 cm
3	Without mulching	13.7 cm

16/09/2022

Day 27

Applying organic mulch in that bed, applied 1/2 inch layer of that organic mulch.

Height of the plants at day 27 in organic mulching height of plant is same , height of inorganic mulching plant is same , also without mulching plants height remains same.

Sr.no	Types of mulching	Height of plant
1	Organic mulching	9.8 cm
2	Inorganic mulching	12.5 cm
3	Without mulching	13.7 cm

17/09/2022

Day 28

In organic mulching height of the plant is increased by 2mm, inorganic mulching height of the plant is increased by 5mm, without mulching plant height is increased by 1 cm.

Sr. no	Types of mulching	Height of plant
1	Organic mulching	10 cm
2	Inorganic mulching	13 cm
3	Without mulching	14.5 cm

19/09/2022 To 24/09/2022

Day 29

19/09/2022

in organic mulch height of plant increased by 3 cm, inorganic mulch plant height increased by 6 cm, without mulch plant height increased by 1.5 cm.

Sr.no	Types of mulching	Height of plant
1	Organic mulching	13 cm
2	Inorganic mulching	19 cm
3	Without mulching	16 cm

20/09/2022- 21/09/2022

Due to some reason i cant observed height of the plants.

22/09/2022

After 2 days

In organic mulching height of plant is increased by 8m , inorganic mulching plant height is increased by 4cm, without mulching plant height is increased by 2.5 cm.

Sr.no	Types of mulching	Height of plants
1	Organic mulching	21 cm
2	Inorganic mulching	23 cm
3	Without mulching	18.5 cm

23/09/2022

In organic mulching height of plant is increased by 2mm , inorganic mulching height of plant is increased by 1cm , without mulching height of plant increased by 5 mm

Sr.no	Types of mulching	Height of plant
1	Organic mulching	21.2
2	Inorganic mulching	24
3	Without mulching	19

24/09/2022

In organic mulching height of plant is increased by 1.3 cm, in inorganic mulching the height of plant is increased by 9mm, height of without mulching plants dose not change.

Sr.no	Types of mulching	Height of plants
1	Organic mulching	22.5
2	Inorganic mulching	24.9
3	Without mulching	19

25/09/2022

Sr.no	Types of mulching	Height of plants
1	Organic mulching	23.3 cm
2	Inorganic mulching	24.9cm
3	Without mulching	19.4 cm

In organic mulching height of plant increased by 1.2 cm, inorganic mulching height of plant is dose not increased, without mulching height of plant is increased by 4 mm.

26/09/2022 To 1/10/2022

26/09/2022

In organic mulching height of plant is increased by 1.2 cm, inorganic mulching height of plant dose not change , height of without mulching plant is increased by 1mm.

Sr.no	Types of mulching	Height of plant
1	Organic mulching	24.5 cm
2	Inorganic mulching	24.9 cm
3	Without mulching	19.5 cm

27/9/2022

In organic mulching height of plant increased by 5 mm, height of inorganic mulching plant is dose not increased, without mulching plant increased by 4 mm.

Sr. no	Types of mulching	Height of plants
1	Organic mulching	25 cm
2	Inorganic mulching	24.9 cm
3	Without mulching	19.9 cm

3/10/2022 To 9/10/2022

It taken long time for germination , so therefore harvesting is delay. In this week we harvested spinach, and checked the parameters of the soil.

Harvesting of spinach:

Observations after harvesting of spinach.

Sr. no	Parameters	Organic mulch	Inorganic mulch	Without mulch
1	Soil testing	N- 140 kg/ha P- 35 kg/ha K- 300 kg/ha	N- 140kg/ha P- 35 kg/ha K- 300 kg/ha	N- 280 kg/ha P- 28 kg/ha K- 300 kg/ha
2	Water holding capacity of soil	72%	75%	65%
5	Average height of plants	32 cm	16.8 cm	22.2 cm
6	Average leaf length	17.3 cm	9 cm	11.8 cm
7	Average leaf width	8.7 cm	4.8 cm	6.4 cm
8	Yield	29 plants	6 plants	28 plants
9	Weight of spinach	930 gm	73 gm	460 gm

conclusion:

1. Planted spinach on the date 20/08/2022 and harvested spinach on the date 5/10/2022 , it taken to long period for growing.
2. we faced problems in this project that is, the layer of soil that was placed before plantating the spinach fell too low.
3. Because of low layer of soil , when we watered the plants, the plants fell down.
4. Inorganic mulching produced very few yield of spinach because there is temperature is very high and the soil layer was also not high .
5. After harvesting of spinach , spinach grown very well in organic mulching , height of plants is higher, width of leaf is higher compared to other two methods , also length of leaves is higher.
6. As compared to other two methods weight of organic mulching spinach is high.
7. As the data obtained from the above spinach was not sufficient, we plotted another plot.