Studies on the Effect of Integrated Nutrient Management on Leaf Nutrient Status and Enzymes Activities in Tea (Camellia sp.)

An experiment was conducted in two varieties of tea viz., Assam jat and ATK clone at Parry Agro Industries Ltd., Valparai, Coimbatore district. The experiment consisted of eighteen treatments with different combinations of 100, 75, 62.5 and 50 % of the recommended doses of fertilizers along with DCC and biofertilizers. The DCC at the rate of three and six tonnes ha-1 and biofertilizers viz., VAM, Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria each @ 50 kg. ha-1 were given annually. The treatments T5 (100 % estate practice along with 6 t/ha of DCC and biofertilizers) closely followed by T3 (100 % estate practice along with 3 t/ha of DCC alone) and T4 (100 % estate practice along with 6 t/ha of DCC alone) recorded maximum leaf phosphorus content when compared to estate practice in both the varieties. The treatments received higher amount of DCC with and without biofertilizers recorded relatively higher amount of nitrate reductase activity, polyphenol oxidase activity and peroxidase activity than estate practice at all levels in both the varieties.