AGROFORESTRY PRACTICES WITH CHILLI DURING THE EARLY ESTABLISHMENT PERIOD OF MORINGA PLANTATION

Abstract

ABSTRACT The experiment was conducted at the Agroforestry Farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU), Dhaka during the period from October 2018 to March 2019 to study the performance of chilli during the early establishment period of Moringa plantation. Four different treatments viz., (i) T 1 (20 cm distance from the tree base), (ii) T 2 (30 cm distance from the tree base), (iii) T 3 (40 cm distance from the tree base), and (iv)T 4 (open field plantation considered as control), were assessed by following Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. The seedlings of chilli (var. BARI chilli-2) were used in this study. Recorded data on different growth, yield attributing parameters and yield were higher in control condition (T 4 ) compared to agroforestry treatments where chilli plants were grown at different distances from Moringa tree base. Results revealed that the highest plant height (44.13 cm), number of branches plant -1 (8), fruit length (6.65 cm), fruit diameter (0.96 cm), number of fruits plant -1 (307), fruit weight plant (565.58 g), single fruit weight (1.84 g), fruit yield plot -1 (2.31 kg) and fruit yield ha (10.29 t) were observed in T 4 (control) treatment. But under agroforestry practice, the highest plant height (37.54 cm), number of branches plant -1 (7), fruit length (6.48 cm), fruit diameter (0.92 cm), number of fruits plant -1 (268), fruit weight plant (465.46 g), single fruit weight (1.74 g), fruit yield plot -1 (1.82 kg) and fruit yield ha (8.15 t) were found in T 3 (40 cm distance from the tree base) treatment. Whereas the lowest plant height (22.8 cm), number of branches plant -1 (5), fruit length (5.18 cm), fruit diameter (0.82 cm), number of fruits plant -1 (183), fruit weight plant -1 (291.85 g), single fruit weight (1.59 g), fruit yield plot -1 (1.16 kg) and fruit yield ha -1 (5.15 t) were recorded in T 1 (20 cm distance from the tree base) treatment. The results of the experiment signified that there were negative tree-crop interactions in respect of different planting distances i.e., increased interaction of Moringa and chilli decreases growth and yield of chilli when Moringa tree were at their early stage of establishment. To obtain better result under tree crop interaction, measurement of optimum distances between tree and crop is very important which may be contributed to achieve best results on both tree and crop yield. According to regression analysis showed that 80 cm distance was optimum for minimizing these competitions and resulting approximately 10.44 ton/ha chilli yield.

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