INFLUENCE OF SOWING TIME WITH ORGANIC AND INORGANIC FERTILIZER ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF FENNEL (Foeniculum vulgare)

Abstract

The present research work was conducted at the Horticulture Farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka during October, 2019 to July, 2020 to study the influence of sowing time with organic and inorganic fertilizer on the growth and yield of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare). The experiment consisted of two factors: Factors-A: Sowing time (4 levels): S 1 = First week of November, S 2 ii = Last week of November, S 3 = First week of December and S 4 = Last week of December; Factors-B: Nutrients (4 levels): T 0 = Vermicompost (2.50 t ha -1 ), T 2 = NPK (N 80 P 50 K 60 kg ha -1 ) and T 3 = Control, T 1 = Vermicompost (2.50 t ha ) + NPK (N 80 P 50 K 60 kg ha -1 ). The result revealed that S 2 treatment exhibited its superiority to other tested sowing time first week of November and first week of December in terms of seed yield, the former out-yielded over S 1 by 9.75% and S 3 by 15.38% higher yield. S 2 treatment also showed the tallest plant at harvest (107.44 cm), maximum number of leaves (12.68), maximum number of umbellet umbel⁻¹ (24.53), number of umbel plant⁻¹ (22.94), maximum weight of 1000-seeds (5.96 g), the highest seed yield plant⁻¹ (32.36 g) and the highest seed yield plot⁻¹ (0.16 kg). On the other hand, treatment S 4 returned with 19.46% lower yield than S 2 which was significantly the lowest compare with other treatments under study. Significant differences existed among different levels of nutrient application where a yield advantages of 0.66 t ha⁻¹, 1.06 t ha⁻¹ and 1.36 t ha⁻¹ over T 2 , T 1 and T 0 treated plot, respectively was recorded from the T 3 treatment; which was possibly aided by the tallest plant at harvest (114.83 cm), maximum number of leaves (14.02), maximum number of umbellet umbel⁻¹ (25.58), number of umbel plant⁻¹ (24.39), maximum weight of 1000-seeds (5.97 g), maximum seed weight umbel⁻¹ (1.92 g), the highest seed yield plant⁻¹ (47.76 g) and the highest seed yield plot⁻¹ (0.24 kg) recorded in T 3 treatment. Significantly the highest seed yield (2.34 t ha⁻¹) was found in S 2 interaction due to the tallest plant at harvest (117.59 cm), number of leaves (15.07), maximum number of umbellet umbel⁻¹ (27.72), number of umbel plant⁻¹ (26.75), maximum weight of 1000-seeds (6.38 g), maximum seed weight umbel⁻¹ (2.09 g), the highest seed yield plant⁻¹ (56.04 g) and the highest seed yield plot⁻¹ (0.28 kg) production. From economic point of view, S 2

combination was found profitable for fennel cultivation in Bangladesh and S 2 treatment [(Last week of November sowing with Vermicompost (2.50 t ha⁻¹) + NPK (N 80 kg ha⁻¹)] was the most profitable than rest of the combination.