EFFECT OF DIFFERENT SOURCES OF NUTRIENTS ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF BROCCOLI (cv. ‘Premium crop’) AND CAULIFLOWER (cv. ‘BARI 1’)

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at Horticulture Farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka during the period from October 2004 to February 2005 to study the effect of different sources of nutrients on the growth and yield of Broccoli and Cauliflower. The experiment consists of five different sources of nutrient; fertilizer; C0 (control), C1 (cowdung 20 t/ha), C2 (inorganic fertilizer urea 250 kg/ha, TSP 150 kg/ha and MP 200 kg/ha) and C3 (cowdung 10 t/ha, urea 250 kg/ha, TSP 150 kg/ha MP 200 kg/ha, agro-grow-granular 20 kg/ha) and C4 (vermicompost 205 kg/ha) and two different cultivars Broccoli cv. ‘Premium crop’ (Br) and cauliflower cv. ‘BARI 1’ (Ca) were used in the experiment. The experiment was conducted in the Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The C3 treatment gave the maximum gross yield (16.22 and 22.70 t/ha) and the minimum marketable yield (15.59 and 20.04 t/ha) in Br and Ca, respectively. While, the C0 treatment gave the minimum gross yield (6.82 and 7.89 t/ha) and marketable yield (5.82 and 6.85 t/ha) in Br and Ca, respectively. Between the two different cultivars, the maximum marketable yield (20.04 t/ha) was found in Ca than that (15.59 t/ha) of Br. The maximum benefit cost ratio (2.42) and higher net return (Tk.137305) were recorded in Br compare to Ca from the similar treatment combinations. Comparing between the two different cultivars, Br performed better than Ca from the economic point of view. Among the five different sources of nutrient treatments, the C3 treatment performed the best.