INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BUSINESS, SOCIAL AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

ISSN: 2309-7892, Page: 125-128, Volume 01, Issue 02, January-March 2014
Review Paper
GROWTH AND YIELD RESPONSE OF CARROT (Daucus carota L.) TO PHOSPHORUS

N. Nahar1, H.E.M.K. Mazed1, J.F. Moonmoon2, H. Mehraj1 and A.F.M. Jamal Uddin1*

N. Nahar, H.E.M.K. Mazed, J.F. Moonmoon, H. Mehraj and A.F.M. Jamal Uddin (2014). Growth and Yield Response of
Carrot (Daucus carota L.) to Phosphorus. Int. J. Bus., Soc. and Sci. Res. 01(02):125-128. Retrieve from
http://www.ijbssr.com/currentissueview/13090121

Received Date: 20/12/2013 Acceptance Date: 27/02/2014 Published Date: 29/02/2014

Abstract
The experiment was conducted at Horticultural Farm, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural
University, Bangladesh during the period from November 2008 to February 2009 to study
the effect of phosphorus on growth and yield of carrot. Four levels of phosphorus viz., P0:
0 kg P2O5/ha (control), P1: 50 kg P2O5/ha, P2: 60 kg P2O5/ha and P3: 70 kg P2O5/ha using
Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Most of the characters
including yield/ha showed higher results for P3. The highest marketable yield (35.9 tha-1)
was recorded from P3 whereas lowest (24.1 tha-1) from P0. It can be suggested to use 70 kg
P2O5 per hectare for higher production of carrot.
Keywords: Daucus carota, phosphorus, growth and yield.
Introduction
Carrot (Daucus carota L.) belongs to Apiaceae family (Peirce, 1987), considered to be a native of
Mediterranean region (Shinohara, 1984). Phosphorus is one of the important essential macro
elements for the normal growth and development of plant. The phosphorus requirements vary
depending upon the nutrient content of the soil (Bose and Som, 1990). Phosphorus shortage
restricted the plant growth and remains immature (Hossain, 1990). Phosphorus is called the Key
to life due to its direct involvement in most of the living process also a key constituent of ATP
that play a significant role in energy transformation in plants in various physiological processes
(Shivasankeb et al., 1982). Phosphorus helps in nutrients uptake by promoting root growth and
thereby increase in total dry matter (Sharma and Yadev, 1976; Rai; 1982). Phosphorus deficiency
results in poor root development and subsequently reduces yield (Jain et al., 1990). Carrot is a
short duration crop, for that easily soluble fertilizer like as phosphorus should be applied in the
field. On the other hand nutrient availability in a soil depends on some factors, among them
balance fertilizer is the important one. Again secondary mechanism of interference was the
absorption of phosphorus from the soil through luxury consumption, increasing the tissue content
without enhancing smooth biomass accumulation (Santos et al., 2004). Considering the above
circumstances, the present investigation was undertaken with the objectives to find out the
optimum dose of phosphorus on growth and yield of carrot.
Materials and Methods
The study was conducted in the Horticulture Farm, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka,
Bangladesh during the period from November 2008 to February 2009 to study the effect of
phosphorus on the growth and yield of carrot. The seed of New Caroda variety of carrot were
used in this experiment as experimental materials. Four levels of phosphorus viz. P0: 0 kg P2O5/ha
(control); P1: 50 kg P2O5/ha; P2: 60 kg P2O5/ha and P3: 70 kg P2O5/ha were used on the experiment
following Randomized Complete Block Design using three replication. The size of the plot was 2.0
m 1.5 m. Cowdung (10 ton/ha), urea (200 kg/ha), MP (175 kg/ha), borax (150 kg/ha) were
applied. Entire cowdung, of MP and borax were applied during final land preparation. Urea and
rest MP were applied in three installments at 10, 30 and 50 days after sowing respectively.
Phosphorus were applied as per treatments as basal dose. The data were collected from 10
randomly selected plants from each plot. Data were collected on plant height, number of leaves,
root length, root diameter, fresh weight of leaves/plant, fresh weight of roots, dry matter content of

*Corresponding Author: jamal4@yahoo.com

1
Department of Horticulture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
2
Department of Agronomy, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Nahar et al. 126

leaves, dry matter content of root, branched root, cracked root, rotten root, gross yield/plant, gross
yield/hectare, marketable yield/plot, marketable yield/hectare. For dry matter content, 150 g sample
was taken from randomly selected 10 plants at harvest then chopped and dried in direct sun light
for two days after that dried in oven at 700C for 72 hours, until constant weight was achieved. The
dry weight of the sample was recorded in gram and the mean value was calculated. Then the
percent dry matter in leaves was calculated by using following formula-
Dry weight of the sample
% Dry matter = 100
Fresh weight of the sample

The data obtained for different characters were statistically analyzed to find out the effect of the
different levels of phosphorus and boron on yield and yield contributing characters of carrot. The
mean values of all the characters were evaluated and analysis of variance was performed by the F
(variance ratio) test. The significance of the difference among the treatment combinations means
was estimated by the Duncans Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at 5% level of probability (Gomez
and Gomez, 1984).
Results and Discussion
Plant height: Plant height of carrot showed statistically significant differences due to the
application of different levels of phosphorus at different days after sowing. Tallest plant was
recorded from P3 (46.2 cm) which was statistically similar to P2 (45.0 cm) while shortest from P0
(40.3 cm) at harvest (Fig. 1a). It was found that highest doses of phosphorus ensured optimum
vegetative growth to longest plant. Similar results also reported by Akhilesh et al. (2003) and Leis
and Lepik (2001). Phosphorus application significantly increased the plant height (Bhai and Singh,
1998). Mohanta (1998) and Gupta et al. (1981) found that plant height of okra increased with the
increase upto P 60 kg P2O5/ha is a disagreement with this finding. Samad (1994) also noted that
plant height was significantly increased with increasing application of phosphorus.
Number of leaves/plant: Different levels of phosphorus showed statistically significant differences
in number of leaves/plant at different days after sowing. Maximum number of leaves/plant was
attained from P3 (25.01) which was statistically similar to P2 (24.39) while minimum from P0
(18.22) at harvest (Fig. 1b).

50.0 30.0

40.0 24.0 N umber of leaves/plant.

Plant height (cm).

30.0 18.0

20.0 12.0

10.0 6.0

0.0 0.0
20 30 40 50 60 harvest 20 30 40 50 60 harvest
Days after sowing (DAS) Days after sowing (DAS)
P0 P1 P2 P3 P0 P1 P2 P3

(a) (b)

Fig. 1. Performance of carrot to different levels of phosphorus on (a) plant height and (b)
number of leaves/plant (P0: 0 kg P2O5/ha (Control); P1: 50 kg; P2O5/ha; P2: 60 kg
P2O5/ha; P3: 70 kg P2O5/ha)
Root length: Different levels of phosphorus showed significant differences for root length of
carrot. The longest root was recorded from P3 (16.8 cm) which was statistically identical with P2
(16.1 cm) whereas shortest from P0 (12.8 cm) (Table 1). Araujo et al. (2004) reported similar
findings earlier.

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Growth and Yield Response of Carrot 127

Table 1. Effect of phosphorus on yield contributing characters of carrotx

Dry matter content
Root Fresh weight (g)
Treatment (%)
Length (cm) Diameter (cm) Leaf Root Leaf Root
P0 12.8 c 2.0 c 60.65 d 105.8 c 6.6 c 8.2 c
P1 14.7 b 2.5 b 74.73 c 125.6 b 8.0 b 9.6 b
P2 16.1 a 2.9 a 83.81 b 133.0 ab 8.5 ab 10.4 a
P3 16.8 a 3.0 a 90.61 a 135.7 a 8.7 a 10.7 a
LSD(0.05) 1.0 0.2 5.275 8.9 0.6 0.8
CV (%) 6.5 8.9 6.97 7.3 8.1 8.0
x
In a column means having similar letter(s) are statistically similar and those having dissimilar letter(s) differ
significantly as per 0.05 level of probability;
P0: 0 kg P2O5/ha (Control); P1: 50 kg; P2O5/ha; P2: 60 kg P2O5/ha; P3: 70 kg P2O5/ha
Root diameter: Statistically significant variation was recorded for different levels of phosphorus on
root diameter of carrot. The highest diameter of root was found from P3 (3.0 cm) which was
statistically identical with P2 (2.9 cm) while lowest from P0 (2.0 cm) (Table 1).
Fresh weight of leaves/plant: Fresh weight of leaves/plant of carrot showed statistically significant
differences for different levels of phosphorus. Maximum fresh weight of leaves/plant was obtained
from P3 (90.6 g) whereas lowest from P0 (60.7 g) (Table 1). Uddin et al. (2004) also recorded
similar results earlier.
Fresh weight of roots/plant: Different levels of phosphorus showed statistically significant
differences on fresh weight of roots/plant of carrot. Maximum fresh weight of roots/plant was
found from P3 (135.7 g) which was statistically identical to P2 (133.0 g) while minimum from P0
(105.8 g) (Table 1).
Dry matter content of leaf: Significant variation was recorded for different levels of phosphorus in
terms of dry matter content of leaf of carrot. The highest dry matter content in leaf was found from
P3 (8.7%) which was statistically identical to P2 (8.5%) while minimum from P0 (6.6%) (Table 1).
Dry matter content of root: Different levels of phosphorus varied significantly on dry matter
content of root of carrot. Maximum dry matter content of root was found in P3 (10.7%) which was
statistically identical with P2 (10.4%) while minimum from P0 (8.21%) (Table 1).
Branched root: Branched root of carrot showed statistically significant differences due to different
levels of phosphorus. The maximum branched root was obtained from P0 (2.6%) which was
statistically identical with P3 (2.4) and P1 (2.4%) while minimum from P2 (2.3%) (Table 2).
Table 2. Effect of phosphorus on yield contributing characters and yield of carrotx
Root (%) Gross yield Marketable yield
Treatment Hectare Hectare
Branched Cracked Rotten Plot (kg) Plot (kg)
(ton) (ton)
P0 2.6 a 2.1 a 2.1 a 8.3 b 27.8 b 7.2 c 24.1 c
P1 2.4 b 1.6 c 1.7 c 10.6 a 35.2 a 10.0 b 33.2 b
P2 2.3 b 1.7 bc 1.8 bc 11.1 a 36.9 a 10.5 a 35.1 a
P3 2.4 b 1.8 b 1.9 b 11.3 a 37.6 a 10.8 a 35.9 a
LSD(0.05) 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.8 2.7 0.5 1.7
CV (%) 6.3 7.0 6.9 8.1 8.1 5.5 5.5
x
In a column means having similar letter(s) are statistically similar and those having dissimilar letter(s) differ
significantly as per 0.05 level of probability;
P0: 0 kg P2O5/ha (Control); P1: 50 kg; P2O5/ha; P2: 60 kg P2O5/ha; P3: 70 kg P2O5/ha
Cracked root: Different levels of phosphorus showed significant differences on cracked root of
carrot. Maximum cracked root was recorded from P0 (2.1%) and minimum from P1 (1.6%) (Table
2).
Rotten root: Statistically significant variation was recorded for different levels of phosphorus in
terms of rotten root of carrot. Maximum rotten root was observed from P0 (2.1%) while minimum
was recorded from P1 (1.7%) (Table 2).
Gross yield/plot: Different levels of phosphorus showed significant variation on gross yield per
plot of carrot. The maximum gross yield/plot was found from P3 (11.3 kg) which was statistically
identical with P2 (11.1 kg) and P1 (10.6 kg) while minimum from P0 (8.34 kg) (Table 2). Salo et al.
(1999) also reported similar findings.
Gross yield/hectare: Statistically significant variation was found for different levels of phosphorus
in terms of gross yield/hectare of carrot. Maximum gross yield/hectare was found from P3 (37.6
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Nahar et al. 128

ton) which was statistically identical with P2 (36.9 ton) and P1 (35.2 ton) whereas minimum from P0
(27.8 ton) (Table 2).
Marketable yield/plot: Marketable yield/plot of carrot showed statistically significant differences
for different levels of phosphorus. Maximum marketable yield/plot was found from P3 (10.76 kg)
which was statistically identical with P2 (10.5 kg) whereas minimum from P0 (7.24 kg) (Table 2).
Marketable yield/hectare: Different levels of phosphorus showed statistically significant
differences for gross yield/hectare of carrot. Maximum marketable yield/hectare was recorded from
P3 (35.9 ton) which was statistically identical with P2 (35.1 ton) while minimum from P0 (24.1 ton)
(Table 2). Tareen et al. (2005) also reported similar results.
Conclusion
Based on the all parameters it can be concluded that P3 was the best among the rates used in the
experiment. Application of the 70 kg P2O5/ha can increases the total and marketable production of
carrot.
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