MEDIA STEAMING AND COCO-COIR ENHANCE GROWTH OF ROUGH LEMON (Citrus jambhiri L.) STOCK

Essential nutrient profiling of natural and steam sterilized soil and soilless media components was performed to obtain better rough lemon seedling growth in containers. Steam sterilization of potting media components did not alter physico-chemical properties of the media. Three fold higher seed germination (95%), two fold better seedling growth 9.17 cm plant height and more leaf area 14.4 cm^-2 was observed in sterilized sand media compared with conventional nursery media containing sand, silt and farm yard manure (w/w, 1:1:1). Media amendment with coco coir enhanced plant growth; up to three fold including seedling survival (90%), shoot length 5.25 cm and stem girth 0.63cm. Two fold increase in leaf size 21.17 cm length and 14 cm width, three fold higher numbers of leaves 6.33, two fold more number of roots 30.17 and root length 12.65 cm were obtained in coir media compared with control and other organic media amendments. These findings suggest a wider application of cost-effective environment friendly steam sterilization and coco-coir as organic media amendment for enhanced nursery growth in healthy environment in containers.