PERFORMANCE OF SOME SELECTED VEGETABLE AND SPICE CROPS UNDER TIMBER AND FRUIT TREES IN TISTA CHAR LAND OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

Four experiments were carried out at the char land of Jaldhaka upazila under Nilphamari district, during September 2018 to August 2019 to investigate the performances of brinjal, okra, sweet gourd and chili in mahogany and litchi based agroforestry systems. The experiments were laid out with single factor Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). The treatments for brinjal experiment were T1= Mahogany + brinjal and T2= brinjal sole cropping. Whereas the treatments for okra experiment were four different distances from mahogany tree base .i.e. T1 = 40 cm from tree base, T2= 80 cm from tree base, T3= 120 cm from tree base and T4= 160 cm from tree base. Again, the treatments for sweet gourd experiment were three different planting spacings i.e. T1 = Pit to pit spacing: 2.5 m, T2= Pit to pit spacing: 2.0 m, and T3= Pit to pit spacing: 1.5 m. Also the treatments for chili experiments were four fertilizer and manure applications .i.e. F0 = No fertilizer, F1= only cow dung, F2= only poultry litter and F3= only chemical fertilizer. The total number of experimental plots for brinjal was six for okra was twelve, for sweet gourd was nine and for chili was twelve. The experimental results showed that the highest brinjal yield (31.45 t/ha) was recorded in brinjal sole cropping and the lowest yield (28.45 t/ha) was recorded in mahogany + brinjal based agroforestry system. In case of okra experiment, the highest yield (21.96 t/ha) was recorded at 160 cm distance from the tree base and the lowest yield (15.16 t/ha) was recorded at 40 cm distance from the tree base. In case of sweet gourd experiment, the maximum yield (11.72 t/ha) was recorded from pit to pit spacing 2.0m and the minimum yield (9.23 t/ha) was recorded from pit to pit spacing 1.5m. In case of chili experiment, chemical fertilizer gave the best total yield (4.88 t/ha) and no fertilizer gave the lowest total yield (3.09 t/ha). From the economic analysis, it was observed that the higher BCR (4.48) was recorded in mahogany + brinjal and the lowest BCR (4.38) was recorded in sole cropping of brinjal based agroforestry system. The higher BCR (4.17) was also recorded in okra cultivation at 160 cm distance from the tree base and the lower BCR (2.92) was recorded at 40 cm distance from the tree base. Again the higher BCR (3.57) was recorded in sweet gourd cultivation at pit to pit spacing of 2.0 m. On the other hand, the lower BCR (2.09) was recorded at pit to pit spacing of 1.5 m. In case of chili cultivation in agroforestry system, the higher BCR (2.49) was recorded where chemical fertilizer was applied and the lower BCR (2.20) was recorded where no fertilizer was applied. Finally, it may be concluded that brinjal, okra, sweet gourd and chili can be cultivated successfully under newly established mahogany and litchi based agroforestry systems at the char land ecosystem considering the additional returns as per investment in terms of money and time.