Response of Mulberry ( Morus alba L . ) to Foliar Supplementation of Nutrient-composite

A pilot study was conducted at research farm of Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute, Berhampore, Murshidabad district, West Bengal, with four treatments each comprising five replications, to study the effect of nutrient-composite on growth attributing characters, yield and quality of mulberry (Morus alba L.) variety C-2038. Based on the data analyzed, it was found that foliar application of treatment combination T2 (nutrientcomposite) [(NH4)2SO4 (5.0 mM) + KH2PO4 (5.0 mM) + KCl (5.0 mM) + MgSO4.7H2O (2.5 mM) + ZnSO4.7H2O (2.5 mM), + (NH4)6Mo7O24.4H2O (0.01 mM)] performed better than rest of the treatment e.g. T1-control [water spray]; T3 (Hormonecomposite) [GA3 (5.0 mg l) + Kinetin (10.0 mg l) + IAA (10.0 mg l)] and T4 (Nutrient-hormone-composite)[(NH4)2SO4 (5.0 mM) + KH2PO4 (5.0 mM) + KCl (5.0 mM) + MgSO4.7H2O (2.5 mM) + ZnSO4.7H2O (2.5 mM) + (NH4)6Mo7O24.4H2O (0.01 mM) + GA3 (5.0 mg l) + Kinetin (10.0 mg l) + IAA (10.0 mg l)], respectively. Growth attributing characters like height of plant (133.4 cm), number of shoots plant (12.0), number of leaves plant (288.4) and total length of leaf bearing shoots plant (1287.0 cm) were recorded maximum with the foliar application of nutrientcomposite (T2). In case of treatment combinations T3 and T4, the above parameters were improved over control but registered lesser values than T2. Barring control, the impact of other three treatments were found at par in terms of leaf area of 1.61 m/100 leaves. Control (T1) recorded 102.8 cm height of plant, 8.0 number of shoots plant, 124.6 number of leaves plant, 641.2 cm total length of leaf bearing shoots plant and leaf area of 1.19 m/100 leaves. Similarly, leaf yield (14.38 t ha) was also recorded maximum in the same treatment combination (T2) computing 36.4% leaf yield gain over control. The leaf yield in control was 10.54 t ha. Assimilation of C, N, P and K by mulberry leaf was also found significantly higher in T2 (nutrient-composite) in comparison to rest of the treatments.