ItemArticle

Effect of biofertilizers on the survival and growth of air-layered saplings of West Indian cherry (Malpighia glabra L.)

Title
Effect of biofertilizers on the survival and growth of air-layered saplings of West Indian cherry (Malpighia glabra L.)
Creator
Bharanidharan, A.; Umesh, B.C.; Jeevitha, D.; Kurien, Sajan; Vinay, T.V.; Giriprasath, R.S.; Prasanth, Krishna Y.; Rajan, Daniel Jeba T.
Description
This study evaluated the efficacy of air layering in combination with biofertilizer treatments for the successful propagation of West Indian cherry (Malpighia glabra L.) during 20222023 at the North Farm, School of Agricultural Sciences, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. Air layering was performed on a 9-year-old tree using 1-year-old, pencil-thick shoots of 60 cm length. Once rooted, the air layers were gradually detached from the mother plant and transplanted into polybags. Biofertilizer treatments were applied to the potting medium and as soil drenches, including Trichoderma viride (3 g L-1), vermiwash (1 %), humic acid (20 g L-1), Azospirillum brasilense (2 g kg-1 planting medium), plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR; 10 g plant-1) and vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhiza (VAM; 100 g plant-1), along with an untreated control. Data recorded at 60 days after detachment (DAD) showed that vermiwash @ 1 % (T3) significantly enhanced shoot and root growth parameters. It resulted in the highest plant height (45.23 cm), number of leaves (38.22), number of shoots (6.45), survival percentage (81.04 %), root length (13.80 cm), primary roots (26.31), secondary roots (78.23) and root diameter (4.88 mm). The improved performance under vermiwash treatment is attributed to its rich content of plant growth regulators, enzymes, micronutrients and beneficial microbes, which positively influenced both vegetative and root development. The results underscore the potential of integrating air layering with nutrient-enriched organic treatments like vermiwash to enhance the propagation efficiency and field establishment of West Indian cherry. The objective of this study was to identify an effective biofertilizer-based strategy to enhance survival, growth and nursery establishment of air-layered West Indian cherry saplings. Copyright: The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source
Plant Science Today;Volume;13;pp.1-6
Date
01-01-2026
Publisher
Horizon e-Publishing Group
Subject
barbados cherry; biofertilizer; gootee; root growth; shoot growth; survivability
Coverage
Bharanidharan A., School of Agricultural Sciences, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, 641 114, India; Umesh B.C., School of Agricultural Sciences, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, 641 114, India; Jeevitha D., School of Agricultural Sciences, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, 641 114, India; Kurien S., School of Agricultural Sciences, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, 641 114, India; Vinay T.V., School of Business and Management, Christ University, Karnataka, Bangalore, 560 029, India; Giriprasath R.S., School of Agricultural Sciences, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, 641 114, India; Prasanth K.Y., School of Agricultural Sciences, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, 641 114, India; Rajan D.J.T., School of Sciences, Arts and Media, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, 641 114, India
Rights
All Open Access; Gold Open Access; Green Open Access
Relation
ISSN: 23481900;
Format
online
Language
English
Type
Article

Citation

Bharanidharan, A.; Umesh, B.C.; Jeevitha, D.; Kurien, Sajan; Vinay, T.V.; Giriprasath, R.S.; Prasanth, Krishna Y.; Rajan, Daniel Jeba T., “Effect of biofertilizers on the survival and growth of air-layered saplings of West Indian cherry (Malpighia glabra L.),” CHRIST (Deemed To Be University) Institutional Repository, accessed June 19, 2026, https://archives.christuniversity.in/items/show/23270.

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