Abstract:
A field experiment was conducted at the experimental field of Sher-e-Bangla
Agricultural University, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207 during the period
from November, 2019 to March, 2020 in Rabi season to find out the response of
various sources of biochars in improving soil health and the processing quality
of potato crop. The experiment had two factors. Factor A: Four different types
of biochar, i. B
1
: Maize cob (5.00 t ha
-1
), ii. B
ii
2
: Mahogany wood (5.00 t ha
),
iii. B
3
: (Cow dung + Sawdust) (5.00 t ha
-1
) and iv. B
4
: Cow dung (5.00 t ha
)
and Factor B: Three different types of potato, i. V
: BARI Alu-29 (Courage), ii.
V
2
: BARI Alu-28 (Lady Rosetta) and iii. V
3
1
: BARI Alu-25 (Asterix). The
experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with
three (3) replications. Total 36 unit-plots were made for the experiment with 12
treatments. Different potato varieties and/or different sources of biochar showed
significant impact on different morphological, yield and qualitative characters
of potato. The maximum number of tubers hill⁻ ¹ (7.56), the maximum weight
of tubers hill⁻ ¹ (307.39 g), the highest tuber yield (30.74 t ha⁻ ¹), the maximum
marketable yield (22.59 t ha⁻ ¹), the highest specific gravity of tuber (1.067 g
cm
-3
) , the maximum tuber dry matter (22.27%) and the maximum starch
content on potato (16.73 mg g
-1
FW) were recorded from B
(Maize cob)
treatment. In case of combination treatment, the maximum weight of tuber
hill⁻ ¹ (369.69 g), the highest tuber yield (36.97 t ha⁻ ¹) and the maximum
marketable yield (27.17 t ha⁻ ¹) was observed in Asterix variety of potato with
maize cob biochar (V
3
B
1
) treatment combination. This combination (V
) also
exhibited highest specific gravity (1.070), dry matter (22.67) and starch content
(16.90 mg g
-1
FW). So the application of maize cob biochar as the source of
biochar with potato variety BARI Alu-25 (Asterix) seemed to be more suitable
for getting higher yield and good quality potato.
Description:
A Thesis
Submitted to the Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture,
Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka in partial
fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE (MS)
IN
AGRONOMY