Browsing by Author "Perera, R. G. J."

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Impact of potting mixture and size of cutting on propagation of betel (Piper betle L.)
(Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2021) Lakshi, M.; Vithusan, K.; Chandrasiri, W. K. S.; Perera, R. G. J.; Kirthisinghe, J. P.
Betel is an export agriculture crop grown as an intercrop throughout Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan betel growers are disorganized and not adhering to standard production practices recommended by the Department of Export Agriculture. Generally, about 50% of the cuttings qualify for field planting due to poor cultural practices. Therefore, the study was conducted to identify the optimum size of a cutting and a low cost potting mixture for obtaining best quality nursery plants for field planting. The study was conducted at Vairavapuliyankulam in Vavuniya District during Yala season in 2019. Nine treatment combinations with three fumigated potting mixtures of top soil: sand: cattle dung: coir dust 1:1:1:1 (control/ M1), top soil: sand: cattle dung: paddy husk 1:1:1:1 (M2), top soil: sand: cattle dung: sawdust 1:1:1:1 (M3) and three sizes of cuttings of three nodal (N1), four nodal (N2) and four nodal with apical bud (N3), were used for the experiment. The cuttings were treated with a fungicide mixture (copper sulphate and lime) for 2 minutes followed by Rootone®. The experiment was triplicated. Data were collected at 3, 6 and 8 weeks after planting (WAP) of cuttings. At 8 WAP in four nodes cuttings with the apical bud in potting mixture of top soil: sand: cattle dung: coir dust 1:1:1:1 had the longest new shoot length of 8.1 cm, highest fresh weight of new shoot of 121 mg, highest dry weights of new shoot 18.1 mg, highest number of roots of 21 per plant, per plant root length of 13 cm and highest root dry weight of 2 mg. There was no significant difference observed between potting mixtures of M2 and M3. This study revealed that coir dust cannot be replaced by sawdust or paddy husk. Four nodes cuttings with the apical bud (N3) produced better plants than the three nodal (N1) and four nodal (N2) cuttings without an apical bud in M1 potting mixture.
Importance of using coloured shade fabric in betel (Piper betle L.) propagation
(Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Weerasinghe, K. K. S.; Perera, R. G. J.; Sandaruwan, R. P. A.; Senarathne, P. M. D. U. K. S.; Kirthisinghe, J. P.
Betel (Piper betle L.) is an export agriculture crop and cultivated in an area of 1427 ha in Sri Lanka. The nursery period of traditional propagation method takes 3 months. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to reduce the nursery period using coloured high quality flame retardant, heavy-duty lock stitch knit black and blue coloured shade fabric made specifically for shade covers of 50% and 75% shade. The research was conducted in a grower’s field at Wariyapola in the Kurunegala district, during yala season in 2019. Three nodal cuttings were taken for the experiment, from healthy orthotropic branches of high yielding mother vines of variety Maneru. The leaf which was located below the 2nd node was removed and the lowest node of the cutting was buried in the pot filled up to 15 cm with fumigated moist rooting medium. The potting medium was prepared by using equal parts of top soil, sand, cow manure and coir dust. The pots were kept for 21 days in a propagator and survival rate was 96%. Healthy plants were transferred into six treatments. Twelve pots were used for each treatment. High quality lock stitch knit black and blue coloured 50% and 75% shade fabric made specifically for shade covers were used as treatments. 50% and 75% shade coir netting was used as the control. Randomized complete block design was used for the experiment. Duncan’s Multiple Range Test was used for mean separation. Shoot height, number of new leaves per cutting, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, leaf temperature, number of roots, root length and root fresh weight were measured. At 75 days after planting of the cuttings in pots, the following results were obtained. The treatment with 50% blue shade was significantly different compared to the other treatments and it gave the longest shoot length of 30 +2.1 cm, the highest shoot fresh weight of 39.2 + 3.3 g and the highest shoot dry weight of 5.8 + 0.4 g. No significant difference was observed between treatments for number of new leaves per cutting, leaf temperature, number of roots, root length and root fresh weight. The results of the study concluded that 50% blue shade is better for betel propagation using three nodal cuttings, so that it is important to use 50% blue shading material in betel commercial nurseries for better growth of cuttings as it can reduce the nursery period to 75 days and the mortality rate in the field.Betel (Piper betle L.) is an export agriculture crop and cultivated in an area of 1427 ha in Sri Lanka. The nursery period of traditional propagation method takes 3 months. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to reduce the nursery period using coloured high quality flame retardant, heavy-duty lock stitch knit black and blue coloured shade fabric made specifically for shade covers of 50% and 75% shade. The research was conducted in a grower’s field at Wariyapola in the Kurunegala district, during yala season in 2019. Three nodal cuttings were taken for the experiment, from healthy orthotropic branches of high yielding mother vines of variety Maneru. The leaf which was located below the 2nd node was removed and the lowest node of the cutting was buried in the pot filled up to 15 cm with fumigated moist rooting medium. The potting medium was prepared by using equal parts of top soil, sand, cow manure and coir dust. The pots were kept for 21 days in a propagator and survival rate was 96%. Healthy plants were transferred into six treatments. Twelve pots were used for each treatment. High quality lock stitch knit black and blue coloured 50% and 75% shade fabric made specifically for shade covers were used as treatments. 50% and 75% shade coir netting was used as the control. Randomized complete block design was used for the experiment. Duncan’s Multiple Range Test was used for mean separation. Shoot height, number of new leaves per cutting, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, leaf temperature, number of roots, root length and root fresh weight were measured. At 75 days after planting of the cuttings in pots, the following results were obtained. The treatment with 50% blue shade was significantly different compared to the other treatments and it gave the longest shoot length of 30 +2.1 cm, the highest shoot fresh weight of 39.2 + 3.3 g and the highest shoot dry weight of 5.8 + 0.4 g. No significant difference was observed between treatments for number of new leaves per cutting, leaf temperature, number of roots, root length and root fresh weight. The results of the study concluded that 50% blue shade is better for betel propagation using three nodal cuttings, so that it is important to use 50% blue shading material in betel commercial nurseries for better growth of cuttings as it can reduce the nursery period to 75 days and the mortality rate in the field.