EFFECT OF VERMICOMPOST ON WHEAT AT DIFFERENT ARSENIC LEVELS

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the net house of the Department of Agronomy, Shere-Bangla

Agricultural University during the period from November, 2019 to March, 2020 to investigate the effect of vermicompost on wheat at different arsenic level. The experiment comprised of two factors viz. Factor A: Arsenic concentrations (3), i. A₀: control (No As), ii. A₁: 25 mg As kg⁻¹

soil and iii. A₂: 50 mg As kg⁻¹ soil; Factor B: Vermicompost doses (3), i. V₀: 0 t ha⁻¹, ii. V₁: 2.50 t ha⁻¹ and iii. V₂: 5.00 t ha⁻¹. This experiment was laid out in a Completely Random Design (CRD) with six (6) replications. Data were collected on different aspects of growth, yield attributes and yield of wheat. The results revealed that treatment V₂ (5.00 t ha⁻¹) exhibited its superiority compare with other vermicompost treatments V₀ and V₁ in terms of seed yield. Treatment V₂ out-yielded over V₁ (2.50 t ha⁻¹) by 4.22% higher yield. Treatment V₂ also showed the highest weight of 100-grains (2.69 g), maximum length of wheat spike (6.979 cm), highest straw yield (25.39 g plant⁻¹), highest biological yield (47.47 g plant⁻¹) and the harvest index (46.62%) than other treatments in this experiment. On the other hand, the treatment V₀ (control or no vermicompost application) returned with 17.78% lower yield than treatment V₂ (5.00 t ha⁻¹) which was significantly the lowest compare with other treatments under study. Significant differences existed among different level of arsenic concentration with respect to yield and yield attributing parameters of wheat. A yield advantages of 3.12 g plant⁻¹ (14.67%) and 8.01 g m⁻² (48.93%) over A₁ (25 mg As kg⁻¹soil) and A₂ (50 mg As kg⁻¹soil ) treated plot, respectively was found which was possibly aided by higher plant height at harvest (64.52 cm), longer root length (8.53 cm), longer spike length of wheat (7.38 cm), higher number of grains spike⁻¹ (24.42), higher number of spikelets plant⁻¹ (13.40), heavier weight of 100-grain (2.82 g), straw yield (27.38 g plant⁻¹), biological yield (51.756 g plant⁻¹) and harvest index (47.17%) in the A₀ (control or no arsenic) treatment. On the other hand, between the two arsenic concentrations, A₁ treated pots performed better than A₂ treated pots regarding the growth, yield attributing and yield parameters. Among the interactions, V₁A₀ and V₂A₀ were superior in most of the growth and yield attributing parameters along with grain yield. Among the treatment combinations where arsenic was applied, V₁A₁ and V₂A₂ combinations showed better performance compared to other combinations. 2.50 t ha⁻¹ of vermicompost application seems promising for combating 25 mg As kg⁻¹ soil arsenic in wheat field.