YIELD PERFORMANCE OF DIFFERENT BITTER GOURD (Momordica charantia L.) VARIETIES UNDER AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the Agroforestry Research Farm, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur in order to investigate the performance of different bitter gourd varieties under different Agroforestry systems. The experiment was consisted of RCBD 2 (two) factors with 3 (three) replications. Among the two factors, one factor A, was three bitter gourd varieties i.e V;=Bulbuli (BARC hybrid), V2= Tia (Laltir hybrid) and V3= Taj (Laltir local) and another factor B was four production systems: S)= Litchi + bitter gourd based Agroforestry, S»= Ghora neem + bitter gourd based Agroforestry, S3= Ipil-ipil + bitter gourd based Agroforestry and S4= Bitter gourd sole cropping. So, there were twelve treatment combinations and those were: V,S,= Litchi + Bulbuli var., V,;S.= Ghora neem + Bulbuli var., V;S3= Ipil-ipil + Bulbuli var., V;S,= Sole cropping of Bulbuli variety, V2S;= Litchi + Tia var., V2S2= Ghora neem + Tia var., V2S3= Ipil-ipil + Tia var., V2S4= Sole cropping of Tia variety, V3S,= Litchi + Taj var., V3S.2= Ghora neem + Taj var., V3S3= Ipil-ipil + Taj var. and V3S4= Sole cropping of Taj bitter gourd variety. The experimental results revealed that the main effect of variety on growth, yield contributing characters and yield of bitter gourd varied significantly from each other. Significantly the highest yield (4.27, 4.37 and 2.78 t/ha at 1%, 24 and 3™ harvest, respectively) was recorded in variety Taj whereas the lowest yield (2.88, 4.28 and 1.59 t/ha at 1, 2" and 3" harvest, respectively) of bitter gourd was recorded from variety Tia. Again the yield of bitter gourd was also significantly influenced by the main effect of different Agroforestry production systems. The highest fresh yield (4.53, 6.03 and 2.52 t/ha at 1“, 2" and 3" harvest, respectively) was recorded under sole cropping of bitter gourd. Significantly the lowest yield (2.04, 4.12 and 2.07 t/ha at 1%, 2™4 and 3% harvest,) was recorded in litchi+bitter gourd based Agroforestry system. The interaction effect of different bitter gourd varieties and production systems on the yield of bitter gourd was also found significantly different at different harvest. The highest fresh yield (6.89, 9.69 and 4.00 t/ha at 1%, 2" and 3" harvest, respectively) was recorded in sole cropping of Taj variety and the lowest fresh yield (1.38, 3.20 and 1.20 t/ha at 1%, 2"! and 3™ harvest, respectively) was found under litchi based AGF system with Tia bitter gourd variety. Therefore, from the findings it may be concluded that Taj was the best bitter gourd variety when cultivated as sole cropping. But among the nine agroforestry systems, Ipil-ipil based agroforestry system was the best.