EFFECT OF PHOSPHORUS AND VERMICOMPOST ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD CONTRIBUTING CHARACTERS OF BORO RICE (BRRI dhan28)

Abstract

An experiment was conducted in the Soil Science research field of Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur during the period from December 2016 to May 2017 in order to investigate the effect of phosphorus and vermicompost on the growth and yield contributing characters of boro rice (BRRI dhan28) and to find out the best integrated dose of phosphorus (P) and vermicompost (VM). Six fertilizer treatment combinations were used and which were T1: P0%VM0% (Control treatment); T2: P0%VM100% (P @ 0 kg ha-1 + VM @ 6 t ha-1); T3: P25%VM75% (P @ 22.5 kg ha-1 + VM @ 4.5 t ha-1);T4: P50%VM50% (P @ 45 kg ha-1 + VM @ 3 t ha-1);T5: P75%VM25% (P @ 67.5 kg ha-1 + VM @ 1.5 t ha-1) and T6: P100%VM0% (P @ 90 kg ha-1 + VM @ 0 t ha-1). The recommended doses of phosphorus (P) and vermicompost (VM) were 90 kg TSP/ha and 6 t/ha, respectively. Recommended doses of N, K, S and Zn were applied in all the treatments. The experimental results revealed that plant height, number of leaf per hill, number of effective tillers per hill, number of spikelet per panicle, number of grains per panicle, number of filled grains per panicle and grain yields were significantly influenced by the application of P and VM. The highest values of different parameters such as plant height (86.83 cm), number of leaf per hill (67.57), number of effective tillers per hill (18.07), number of spikelet per panicle (14), number of grains per panicle (135), number of filled grains per panicle (114), grain yield (5.68 t ha-1) and straw yield (5.28 t ha-1) were obtained in treatment T3 where 25% of phosphorus (P) of recommended dose and 75% of vermicompost (VM) of farmers practiced dose was applied. The lowest results were found in the control treatment (T1). There were some variations in panicle length, number of leaf per hill, straw yield and biological yield due to different treatments but they were not statistically significant. Furthermore, the highest total N, available P, exchangeable K and available S content in post-harvest soil was also found in T3 treatment and lowest in control treatment (T1). Thus, the results indicate that application of P fertilizer in T3 as TSP @ 22.5 kg ha-1 in combination with 4.5 t VM ha-1 can reduce the use of P fertilizer at a substantial level which ultimately reduces the cost of production of boro rice. The findings of the study showed that the performance of the treatment T3 (P25%VM75%) was the best among the different treatments in respects of plant height, number of leaf per hill, number of spikelet per panicle, number of grains per panicle, number of filled grains per panicle and grain yield of boro rice. Therefore, this study reveals that the application of TSP @ 22.5 kg ha-1 along with VM @ 4.5 t ha-1 might be an efficient practice for achieving economical boro rice production.