Direct and Residual Effect of Various Vermicompost on Yield and Quality of Broccoli

Abstract

Direct and residual effect of three kinds of vermicompost at various application rates on yield and quality of broccoli were investigated in field experiment organically. The experiment used a factorial randomized block design which consisted of two factors. The first factor is the kind of vermicompost consisted of three levels : v1= the mixture of spent mushrooms waste (SMW), cow dung (CD) and vegetable wastes (VW), v2=SMW, CD and leaf litter (LL), v3= SMW, CD, VW and LL. The second factor is the application rates of vermicompost consisted of four levels : 5, 10, 15, and 20 t ha-1 and one control (inorganic treatment). The results of this study showed that direct effect of vermicompost application had non-significantly different yield with the control. While residual effect of vermicompost application significantly (P<0,5) had higher yield of broccoli than the control. Yield of broccoli at the residual effect decrease by 36-44%. Application of v3 vermicompost 15 t ha-1 had relatively stable yield either at direct or residual effect. The inorganic treatment had lower quality of broccoli than the treatment using vermicompost. Application of v2 vermicompost 5-10 t ha-1 relatively had stable quality of broccoli either at the direct or residual effect. It suggests that application of vermicompost is important to maintain productivity and quality of organic vegetables.