Abstract

                                Two pot culture experiments were conducted at Agricultural College and Research Institute, Killikulam with sorghum and blackgram as test crops on a sandy clay soil during October, 1997 to January 1998. Cement kiln dust collected from a cement factory was artificially mixed with the soil at 10 different ratios varying from 10g to 100g dust per kg of soil and the crops were grown. Results showed that uptake of nutrients generally increased in both the crops whereas leaf area index, dry matter production and grain yield showed reduced values.

Key words : Cement dust, Leaf area index, Drymatter production