Impact of Organic Manures and Liquid Formulations on Garlic Growth, Yield and Quality in Uttarakhand, India

The field study was carried out to VCSG, UUHF, Pauri Garhwal in 2022-2023 to investigate the integrated effect of organic manures and organic liquid formulations on the growth and yield of garlic. The main objective of this study was to determine the benefits of using organic manures and liquid formulations over conventional farming because the abundant use of nitrogenous fertilizers causes excessive vegetative growth at the expense of bulb formation. Among fourteen different treatment combinations that consist of various combinations of organic manures (FYM and Vermicompost) and organic liquid formulations (Panchgavya and Jeevamrit) treatment T3 i.e., FYM (10t/ha) + Panchgavya (2%) emerged as the best treatment concerning growth and yield of garlic. The findings showed that the maximum plant height (69.080 cm), number of leaves (8.400), leaf length (47.880 cm) and breadth (3.207 cm), and leaf area index (1.023) at all the 30 days intervals after sowing of garlic has been observed with the application of Treatment T3. The fundamental reason for the increased growth might be due to growth-promoting substances like auxins and gibberellins in panchgavya and high nitrogen and phosphorus in FYM. Concerning yield and quality attributes, the bulb diameter (5.657 cm), fresh weight of bulb (64.643 cm), length of the bulb (5.853 cm), number of cloves per bulb (12.200), bulb yield (120.833 q), total chlorophyll content (2.127 mg/g) and ascorbic acid content (15.333 mg/100g) was obtained maximum with the application of same treatment T3 i.e., FYM (10t/ha) + Panchgavya (2%) with yield increases up to 30% compared to control. However, the harvest index percent was found to be maximum (89.243 %) in treatment T13 i.e., Vermicompost (5t/ha) + Jeevamrit (6%). These findings suggest that organic farming practices can effectively enhance garlic production, offering a sustainable alternative to chemical fertilizers. Moreover, this study provides practical insights for farmers and contributes to the growing body of research on sustainable agriculture.