Keywords:
Leather leaf fern, cut foliage produc-tion, foliage quality, substrates, nutrition.
In Leather leaf fern (Rumohra adianti-formis) production, a combination of Cocopeat +Sand+Vermicompost (1: 1: 1 v/v) as substrate and the application of NPK @100: 30: 60 kg/ha/year in six splits at bimonthly intervals (basal dose of full P, 0.1% Arka Microbial Consortium (AMC) as one time application and N and K as splits) resulted in the maximum number of cut foliage/plant, length of lamina, length of stipe, length of frond and width of frond. Chemical analysis of the substrate revealed near neutral pH, optimum levels of organic carbon and avail-able N, high levels of available P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu. The substrate also had higher population of Bacillus sp, Pseudomonas sp and Azotobacter sp as compared to the soil based substrates.
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*Corresponding author E-mail: sujathaanil@iihr.ernet.in