PERFORMANCE OF CHILI INFLUENCED BY FERTILIZER APPLICATIONS UNDER DIFFERENT TREE BASED AGROFORESTRY PRACTICES

Abstract

Chili is not only most important winter vegetables in Bangladesh but also well-known and high demandable popular vegetables and also important spices grown successfully during brumal season in Bangladesh. Though the aforementioned chili is very common to all and have good potential in our climate, none of them was systematically tested in agroforestry system or in natural shade condition to see their production ability under partial shade conditions. With that in mind a field experiment was carried out at the Agroforestry and Environment Research Farm, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU), Dinajpur, during May, 2019 to July, 2019 to evaluate the performance of chili production under litchi, mango and moringa based agroforestry system. The experiment was laid out in two factorial RCBD with 3 (three) replications. Factor A (Production systems) viz. S1 = Litchi + Chili, S2 = Mango + Chili, S3=Moringa + Chili and S4 = Open + Chili and Factor B (Fertilizer applications) viz. F1 = Chemical Fertilizer, F2 = Cowdung, F3 = Poultry manure, F4 = Cowdung + Poultry manure, F5 = No fertilizer. The total numbers of experimental plots were 60. The result of the experiment revealed that plant height (30, 45 and 60 DAT), no. of shoot/plant (30, 45 and 60 DAT), number of leaf/shoot (30, 45 and 60 DAT), leaf length (30, 45 and 60 DAT), leaf width (30, 45 and 60 DAT), fruit length (cm), fruit diameter (cm), number of fruit/ plant, yield (kg/plot), yield (t/ha), percent dry weight of chili fruit were significantly varied due to the different production systems and fertilizer applications when cultivated under litchi, mango and moringa based agroforestry systems. In case of effects of production system, the highest fruit yield (2.47 t/ha) was recorded from the open + chili (S4) production system. On the other hand, lowest fruit yield (1.33 t/ha) was obtained from the mango + chili (S3) based agroforestry system. In case of effects of fertilizer application, the highest fruit yield (3.12 t/ha) was recorded from the plot where chemical fertilizer (F1) was used. On the other hand, lowest fruit yield (0.74 t/ha) was obtained from the plot where no fertilizer (F5) was used. In case of interaction effects of the chili production system and fertilizer applications, the highest yield (4.05 t/ha) was observed from the treatment S4F1 (Open + Chili+ Chemical fertilizer). On the other hand, lowest yield (0.57 t/ha) was observed from the treatment S2F5 (Mango + Chili+ No fertilizer). Again, from the economic analysis, the highest benefit-cost ratio (3.03) was recorded from the treatment Moringa + Chili + Chemical fertilizer (S3F1). On the other hand, the lowest benefit-cost ratio (1.67) was observed in those plots where chili was grown with cowdung and poultry manure under open condition (i.e. in treatment S4F2 and S4F3, respectively). From this study it is clear that chili cultivation in association with moringa tree gave the best yield among production system with maximum BCR (Benefit Cost Ratio).