INTRODUCTION Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) is an ancient, most valuable and sacred spice of India. It is an herbaceous, perennial belonging to the family of Zingiberaceae. India is the largest producer and exporter of this crop. It is extensively used in culinary application, cosmetic, pharmaceutical and dyeing industries. It is also used in religious ceremonies. Curcumin, the primary pigment of turmeric, is generally used in various food industries as a food colourant. Its having antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant property and have a potential application in clinical research (Heath et al., 2004). Across the world, strong demand for Indian spices such as turmeric, ginger and saffron and increased the 192% of export value. India is the world's largest producer of turmeric and produces 70-75% of world's total production (Anon., 2022). In order to meet the export and internal demands of turmeric, production has to be increased. Turmeric being a heavy feeder and exhaustive crop responds very well to nutrients application. The continuous use of high dose of chemical fertilizers has an adverse effect not only on soil health and but also on environment. The combined use of organic and inorganic fertilizers not only increases the yield but also improves the physical, chemical and biological property of soil which further improves fertility, productivity and water holding capacity of soil. The organic source will help to maintain nutrient equilibrium in soils whereas, the inorganic fertilizers readily furnish nutrient which would enhance the initial growth in the crop and finally results in better growth, development and yield (Singh et al., 2009) with this background the present experiment was conducted to study the effect of integrated nitrogen management on yield and quality of turmeric. MATERIALS AND METHODS The experiment was carried out at Horticulture Farm, College of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, Karnataka, India, during 2016-17. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with eight treatments replicated thrice. The following treatments were included in the study to impose on turmeric cv. Salem. (RDF = 150:125:250 NPK kg/ha) T1 – 100% RDF + FYM T2 - 75 % RDN + 25 % nitrogen through Neemcake T3 – 75% RDN + 25% nitrogen through Vermicompost T4 – 75% RDN + 25 %nitrogen through Pongamia cake T5 – 50% RDN + 50 % nitrogen through Neemcake T6 – 50% RDN + 50% nitrogen through Vermicompost T7 – 50% RDN + 50% nitrogen through Pongamia cake T8 – 50% RDN + 2% Urea as foliar spay The rhizomes were with the spacing of 45 cm × 22.5cm. The required quantity of FYM, neemcake, pongamia cake and vermicompost for gross plot area were computed as per their N contents and applied in respective plots as per the treatments. Observations were recorded for growth parameters at 150 days after planting, yield and quality parameters after the harvest of the crop. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Growth. The data on presented in the Table 1 revealed that significant differences at all stages of growth. Plant height (122.23cm), Number of leaves per plant (34.40), Number of tillers per clump (5.03) and Leaf area index (3.75) exhibited significantly higher values at 150 DAP respectively effected through the consortia of application of 50 per cent RDN through inorganic and 50 per cent RDN through organic sources as pongamia cake (T7). However, the application of 100 per cent RDF along with FYM resulted in significantly lower per cent of emergence, plant height, number of leaves per plant, number of tillers per clump and leaf area index 87.50 (at 45DAP), 107.43cm, 26.30, 4.07 and 3.37 at 150 DAP respectively through T1. The observations were made at vigorous growth stages of crop at 50, 100 and 150 DAP.(Table 1.) At 150 days the vegetative growth slowed down and lower values were recorded for plant height and number of leaves per plant. The plant exhibited the vigorous growth between 50 to100 DAP. This trend was in good agreement with the observations of Manohar Rao et al. (2005) in turmeric. The slow growth after 150 days might be attributed to rhizomes development due to source and sink relationship. Transportation of more photosynthates from source (leaves) to sink (rhizomes). The number of leaves per tiller was significantly promoted with all the organic, inorganic and recommended dose of INM treatments (Singh, 2015; Sarma et al., 2015; Datta et al., 2017). Yield. The data presented in the Table 2 revealed that application of RDN through T7 produced significantly superior yield attributes like more number of mother rhizomes (3.67), more number of primary rhizomes (14.13), secondary rhizomes (4.40). Similarly, the same treatment T7 has shown the maximum weight of mother rhizome (177.00g), primary rhizome (253.33g) and secondary rhizomes (40.63g) per clump. However, significantly lower number of mother rhizomes (3.00), primary rhizomes (8.40), secondary rhizomes (2.80), weight of mother rhizomes (125.67g), weight of primary and secondary rhizomes per clump (161.67g and 22.27g respectively) through T1. The fresh rhizome yield and dry rhizome yield per hectare was significantly high with 43.94 tonnes and 4.17 tonnes respectively in T7. On the contrary T1 resulted in significantly lower fresh rhizome yield and dry rhizome yield (25.55 t ha-1 and 1.85 t ha-1 respectively). The highest dry recovery was notices in same treatment T7. Highest turmeric powder yield (3.68 t ha-1) might be due to the increased dry rhizome yield through the imposition of treatment T7. Higher yield of dry rhizomes (4.17 t ha-1) might be attributed due to higher fresh rhizome yield which ultimately results in highest turmeric powder yield (3.68 t ha-1) through the imposition of treatment T7. Significantly higher rhizome yield obtained from T7 might be due to the effect of maximum number of mother rhizomes, primary rhizomes, secondary rhizomes, weight of mother rhizomes per clump, weight of primary and secondary rhizomes per clump also the higher nutrient status of pongamia cake preferably high N and K content compared to other organic sources such as neemcake and vermicompost. Especially N and K are two important nutrients for boosting the growth and yield of turmeric. Nitrogen is involved in chlorophyll synthesis and it influences stomatal conductance and photosynthetic efficiency. N is responsible for 26 to 41 per cent of crop yields. K plays catalytic roles in the plant rather than becoming an integral part of plant components. It regulates the permeability of cell walls and activities of various mineral elements as well as neutralizing physiologically important organic acids. Banafor et al., (1995); Sugtto et al. (1995); Padmapriya et al. (2007); Srinivasan et al. (2016); Amala et al. (2019) reported that with the increase in K levels growth, leaves number, tillers number and rhizome yield increased. Quality. The intensity of yellow colour of the rhizome directly depends upon the quantity of curcumin content (Singh, 2014). The data presented in the Table 3 revealed that, quality parameters viz., curcumin and oleoresin content of turmeric was significantly influenced by combined application of organic manures with inorganic fertilizers. The maximum curcumin content (2129.32 ppm) was noticed in treatment T1 whereas, minimum curcumin content (1858.16 ppm) was noticed in the treatment T7. The high curcumin content observed through treatment T1 which indicated that, low yielding treatments were exhibited higher curcumin content where as high yielding treatment T7 recorded less curcumin content. The maximum oleoresin content (12.80%) was observed in treatment T4 and minimum oleoresin content (8.90%) was noticed in treatment T1. Potassium is often described as a quality element for crop production. It increased the yield, size of fingers in ginger and turmeric. It also increases oleoresin in ginger and curcumin recovery in turmeric (Sadanandan and Hamza 1998; Isaac et al., 2016; Tripathi et al., 2021). Based on the present findings, it concluded that integrated application of 50% inorganic and 50% organic sources through pongamia cake has resulted best treatment for yield of rhizome. For curcumin content T1 has shown the best result.