dc.description.abstract | A field experiment was carried out at the Agroforestry and Environment Research Farm
of the department of Agroforestry and Environment, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science
and Technology University, Dinajpur, Bangladesh during November 2018 to March
2019 to evaluate the fertilizer and manure application performance in respect to chemical
VS nonchemical pest management on the growth and yield of potato under mango based
agroforestry system along with sole cropping. The experiment was laid out with two
factorial Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) following three replications. The
two factors were, factor A: two production systems viz, mango + potato based
agroforestry system (S1) and sole cropping of potato (S2). Factor B: five fertilizer and
manure applications viz, F0 (no fertilizer and manure (control), F1 (Only chemical
fertilization), F2 (Only cowdung application), F3 (Only poultry manure application) and
F4 (Both cowdung and poultry application). So, there were ten treatment combinations
like S1F0, S1F1, S1F2, S1F3, S1F4, S2F0, S2F1, S2F2, S2F3 and S2F4. The total numbers of
experimental plots were thirty. The result of the experiment revealed that plant height,
no. of leaf , no. of shoots, no. of tuber, weight of tuber per plant , weight of tuber per
plot, tuber dry weight, and tuber grades were significantly varied due to different
production systems and fertilizer application packages . In case of main effect of
production system, except the initial plant height all other growth parameters and potato
tuber yield were significantly highest in open condition and the tuber yield per hectare
was 11.37 ton per hectare. However, the lowest tuber yield (7.91wt/h) was found in
mango + potato based agroforestry system. Again, in case of main effects of fertilizer
application packages, the highest tuber yield (16.34 t/ha) was recorded in chemically
fertilized plot and the lowest tuber yield (4.14 t/h) was recorded in that plot where no
fertilizer and manure were applied. On the other hand, in case of interaction effect of
production systems and fertilizer application packages, it was found that open condition
with only chemically fertilized plot gave highest yield (17.43 t/h) whereas no fertilizer
and manure application under mango based agroforestry plot gave lowest yield (3.57
t/h). Again, from the economic analysis, it was observed that the higher BCR (2.08) was
recorded in Mango + Potato based Agroforestry system. On the other hand, the lower
BCR (1.31) was recorded from the sole cropping of Potato. However, the suitability of
the cultivation of potato using different fertilizer and manure applications under mango
based Agroforestry systems may be ranked as chemical>cowdung>cowdung+poultry>
poultry> no fertilizer. Finally it may be concluded that chemical fertilizer application
gave maximum yield potato at the floor of mango but the application of manuring like
cowdung @ 10 ton per hactare also gave good yield and the yield reduction in using
manuring and compare to chemical fertilizer application was only 19.09 %. Therefore, if
we consider the human health benefit and environmental safety then organic potato
production in the mango orchard is a viable option. | en_US |