EFF'ECT OF NPK AND MULCHING ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF BROCCOLI

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at Central Farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka during October, 2007 to February, 2008 to study the effect ofNPK and mulching on growth and yield of broccoli. Four levels ofNPK fertilizers viz., Fo (0:0:0 kg NPK/ha), F1 (100:40:50 kg NPK/ha), F2 (140:50:80 kg NPK/ha) and F3 (180:60:110 kg NPK/ha) and four levels of mulches viz., Mo (control), M1 (rice straw), M2 (water hyacinth) and M3 (black polythene) were used as treatment in the experiment. The experiment was laid out in two factors randomized complete block design with three replications. Different levels of fertilizers had significant effect on growth and yield contributing characters in broccoli. In case of NPK, the highest yield was produced by F2 treatment (13.98 t/ha) whereas the lowest yield (8.463 t/ha) was found in Fo. In case of mulching, the maximum curd yield (13.33 t/ha) was recorded from M3 and the lowest yield (9.627 t/ha) was found in Mo. For combined effect, the highest yield (17.78 tlha) was obtained from F2M3 and the lowest yield (7.433 t/ha) was obtained from FoM0• Economic analysis revealed that F2M3 treatment combination gave the highest benefit cost ratio of 2.45 whereas FoMo showed the lowest benefit cost ratio of 1.52. It may be concluded that 140:50:80 kg NPK/ha and black polythene mulch may be suitable for growth and yield of broccoli.