PROSPECT OF LITCHI BASED AGROFORESTRY SYSTEM FOR ORGANIC TOMATO PRODUCTION

Abstract

Tomato is an important crop and considered as one of the most important, popular and nutrious vegetable in world. However, the productivity of this crop is very low due to a number of constraints. A field experiment was conducted during the November 2016 to March 2017 cropping season in the Departmental Research Field of groforestry nd Environment 25 13‟ l titude nd 8823‟ longitude, nd bout 37.5m bove se level) of Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur, Bangladesh in order to study on Tomato production through the use of organic fertilizer application. The experiment consisted of five different treatments viz. No fertilizer (F0), chemical fertilizer (F1), cowdung (F2), poultry (F3) and cowdung + poultry (F4) for their suitability in both open condition (S1) and under Litchi based agroforestry system (S2). The experiment was laid out with two factors Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The two factors were- factor A: fertilizer & pesticide application and factor B: two production systems. The results of the experiment reveled that there were significant effect of both the fertilizer application and production systems on the growth, yield contributing characters and yield of Tomato. In case of main effect of fertilizer treatment, significantly the highest fruit yield (16.23t/ha) was found in chemical fertilizer application (F1) and the lowest fruit yield (7.25t/ha) was observed in no fertilizer application (F0). Again, in case of main effect of production system significantly the highest fruit yield of Tomato (14.83t/ha) was observed in the open field (S1) and the lowest fruit yield of Tomato (8.82t/ha) was observed in Litchi + Tomato based agroforestry system (S2). Furthermore, in case of the interaction effect of fertilizer application , it was found that chemical fertilizer application (F1) gave maximum yield of Tomato (19.87t/ha) under open field condition i.e. S1F1 treatment combination. On the other hand no fertilizer application (F0) gave minimum yield of Tomato (4.21t/ha) under Litchi based agroforestry system i.e. S2F0 treatment combination. However, among the five fertilizer treatments chemical fertilizer (F1) gave higher yield and no fertilizer gave lower yield. From the economic analysis, it was observed that the higher BCR (4.64) was received in Litchi + Tomato based Agroforestry system where chemical fertilizer was applied (S2F1) followed by (4.59) where cowdung + poultry manure (S2F4) was applied. On the other hand, the lower BCR (1.15) obtain in sole cropping (S1F0) where no fertilizer was applied. Finally it may be concluded that out of the five fertilizer treatments, Chemical fertilizer would be the best fertilizer treatment. Though chemical fertilizer treatment gave more production it had also more cost. But in case of organic manuring there was less cost than chemical fertilizer, th t‟s why using cowdung + poultry manure is a good organic agroforestry system for tomato production at the flour of litchi orchard, considering the additional returns as per investment in terms of money food safety and environment benefits..