Abstract:
A field experiment was conducted at the Horticulture Farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural
University, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh, during November 2021 to March 2022 to find out the
effect of organic and inorganic fertilizer managements for the growth and yield of broccoli
(Brassica oleracea var. italica). The experiment comprised 9 different treatments of organic and
inorganic fertilizer and their combination viz., T
0
: Control (without fertilizer); T
1
: Cow dung
(CD) @ 15 ton/ha; T
2
: Recommend fertilizer dose @ CD
10
t N
150
kg P
150
:
Vermicompost @ 10 ton/ha and Trichoderma @ 22 kg/ha; T
4
: Vermicompost @ 10 ton/ha and
biochar 150 kg/ha; T
5
: Kitchen compost @ 8 ton/ha; T
6
kg K
120
kg/ha
: Mushroom compost @ 5 ton/ha; T
7
:
Vermicompost (50%) + Cowdung (50%) and T
8
: Mushroom Spent compost @ 5 ton/ha (60%) +
Vermicompost (20%) + Trichoderma (20%) and experiment was setup in Randomized Complete
Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. A positive impact of each fertilizer was observed
on vegetative growth and yield of the crop. Early curd initiation (44.33 days after transplanting),
maximum curd diameter (13.58 cm), maximum weight of primary curd (344.2 g), maximum
number of secondary curd (6.67), maximum weight of secondary curd (210 g), maximum dry
matter content (9.86%) of curd, highest yield plant
-1
(550 g), yield plot
-1
(4.95 kg) and yield ha
(26.76 t) were found from T
2
treatment, while the control treatment gave the lowest. The highest
benefit cost ratio (3.40) was noted from T
2
and the lowest (1.21) from T
4
. Considering the
differences between different organic fertilizers with the recommended dose, the lowest
differences of plant height (1.57 cm) at 60 DAT, diameter (0.33 cm) of primary curd, weight
(26.1 g) of primary curd, per plant yield (21.9 g) and yield (1.07 t/ha) of broccoli over the
recommended dose was observed in T
8
treatment. Considering the sustainable yield, application
of recommend fertilizer dose @ CD
10
kg/ha seemed to be more promising for
broccoli cultivation and among the organic fertilizers, the combination Mushroom Spent
compost @ 5 ton/ha (60%) + Vermicompost (20%) + Trichoderma (20%) was best in respect of
plant growth and yield.
Description:
A Thesis
Submitted to the Faculty of Agriculture,
Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka,
In partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE (MS)
IN
HORTICULTURE
