Vol. 7, Issue 12, Part A (2025)

An experiment was conducted at the Small cardamom plantation, Idukki, Kerala during 2021 -2024 summer (February-May) to evaluate the response of small cardamom crop to the foliar application of Potassium silicate under drought situation. The experiment was carried out using a Split-Plot arrangement according to the Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The main plots included irrigation intervals (T₁, irrigated every 15 days; T₂, irrigated every 10 days; and T₃, irrigated every 8 days), while the concentrations of potassium silicate fertilizer (1.5 gm S1, 2.5gm S2, and 5gm S3 ml liter-1 of distilled water), in addition to the control treatment S0, which was sprayed with distilled water only, allocated to the sub-plots. The T₃ irrigation interval showed the highest average pod yield with 5.42-ton ha-1, while the T₁ interval showed the lowest value for capsule yield at 4.23-ton ha-1. This was confirmed by the results of a study that found a significant increase in capsule yield for the plant under water stress.