Effect of Application of Organic Fertilizer Supplemented with Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi on Asiatic Pennywort Herb Production in Bang Len District, Nakhon Pathom

Abstract

The objective was aimed to compare 2 types of organic fertilizer on growth and yield of asiatic pennyworth (Centella asiatica (L.) Urb. growing in Bang Len district, Nakhon Pathom. A pot experiment was undertaken in CRD with 3 replications. There were 3 treatments, (1) no fertilizer, (2) organic fertilizer according to farmer practice and (3) organic fertilizer supplemented with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). The results showed that application of organic fertilizer supplemented with AMF significantly increased growth in term of stolen length, node number and total fresh-dry weight than those in organic fertilizer according to farmer practice and no fertilizer treatment. The organic fentizer supplemented with AMF gave the highest yield of 1,768 kg/rai. Whereas, application of organic fertilizer according to farmer practice and no fertilizer treatment gave the lower yield of 1,335 and 914 kg/rai, respectively. Total bioactive compounds were also increased in organic fertilizer supplemented with AMF treatment by 15 %. When considering the economic return, it was found that the cultivation of asiatic pennyworth with organic fertilizer supplemented with AMF had an increase of approximately 50% profit. Therefore, application of organic fertilizer supplemented with AMF had significantly resulted in the highest growth, quantity and quality of yield and economic return of asiatic pennyworth growing in Bang Len district, Nakhon Pathom.