Dept. of Agroforestry And Environment

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ASSESSING FARMERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND CARBON SEQUESTRATION POTENTIAL OF CROPLAND AGROFORESTRY IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE
(HAJEE MOHAMMAD DANESH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, DINAJPUR-5200, BANGLADESH, 2025-06) HOSSEN, MD. FORHAD; Rahman, Prof. Dr. Md. Shoaibur; Hanif, Prof. Dr. Md. Abu
Agroforestry serves as a vital strategy for enhancing climate resilience, conserving biodiversity, and sustaining rural livelihoods in northern Bangladesh. This study aimed to evaluate farmers‘ perceptions of climate change, the role of agroforestry practices in mitigating its impacts, and the contribution of cropland agroforestry to carbon sequestration. The research was conducted from February to May 2025 in five villages of Sundorpur Union under Kaharole Upazila, Dinajpur district. A total of 63 cropland agroforestry farms covering 2.52 hectares were randomly selected. Semi-structured interviews captured demographic and socioeconomic data, while biophysical data were collected from 20 m × 20 m quadrats. Findings revealed that farmers were experiencing climate-related stresses such as drought, rising temperatures, and irregular rainfall. Consequently, 71.43% reported increased irrigation demand, 52.4% cited rising input costs, and 30.16% experienced reduced crop yields due to climate change. Biophysical assessments recorded 13 woody perennial species comprising 715 individual trees. Areca catechu showed the highest Importance Value Index (IVI) at 69.08%, followed by Eucalyptus camaldulensis (56.12%) and Swietenia macrophylla (50.79%). Biodiversity indices indicated moderate diversity, with a Shannon–Wiener index of 1.84 and Margalef‘s richness index of 1.521. Swietenia macrophylla had the highest basal area (10.6 m²/ha), while Areca catechu had the highest stand density (104.37 individuals/ha). Eucalyptus camaldulensis contributed most to above-ground biomass (52.27 Mg ha⁻ ¹), followed by Swietenia macrophylla (23.89 Mg ha⁻ ¹). The total woody biomass was estimated at 133.00 Mg ha⁻ ¹, with a total carbon stock of 66.50 Mg C ha⁻ ¹. Despite these benefits, adoption of cropland agroforestry is limited by inadequate training, weak institutional support, and resource competition. Nevertheless, farmers recognized its potential in climate adaptation and ecosystem enhancement, highlighting the need for targeted policy support, capacity building, and continued research to strengthen its adoption under changing climatic conditions.
EFFECT OF POULTRY LITTER COMPOST ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF ONION UNDER NEEM BASED AGROFROESTRY SYSTEM
(HAJEE MOHAMMAD DANESH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, DINAJPUR-5200, BANGLADESH, 2024-06) ISLAM, MD. DABIRUL; Rahman, Prof. Dr. Md. Shoaibur; Bari, Prof. Dr. Md. Shafiqul
A study was conducted at the Research Field of the Department of Agroforestry and Environment, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU), Dinajpur to investigate the effect of poultry litter (PL) on the growth and yield parameters of onion (Foridpury variety) under neem based agroforestry system. The experiment was conducted during the period of January 2024 to April 2024. The experiment was performed with Randomized Complete Block Design with four treatments and three replications. The treatments were: T1 = Control (no PL), T2 =PL 3 ton/ha, T3 = PL 5 ton /ha and T4= PL 7.5 ton/ha. Therefore, there were 12 experimental plots (4 treatments × 3 replications) of size 2m × 2m. The results demonstrated that growth parameters and yield were significantly different among the different treatments. The highest plant height (53.62 cm) and number of leaves plant per plant (5.2) were obtained in T3, while lowest was recorded in Control (T1). Similarly the highest straw yield (1032kg) ha-1, highest bulb length (7.15 cm), bulb diameter (3.46 cm), fresh weight of bulb (18.6 g), yield plot-1 (3.43kg) and yield ha-1 (8.56 ton) were obtained from treatment T3. The soil chemical properties were improved due to the application of poultry litter. From economical point of view, the highest BCR (2.53) was recorded in T3 treatment and the lowest BCR (1.78) was recorded in T1 treatment. In conclusion, the application of 5 tons/ha of poultry litter (T3) significantly enhanced the growth and yield parameters of onions, proving to be the most effective treatment. Economically, this treatment also yielded the highest benefit-cost ratio, indicating its superiority in both agronomic and financial terms under neem based agroforestry system.
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF LETTUCE PRODUCTION INFLUENCED BY DIFFERENT FERTILIZER APPLICATIONS IN MORINGA BASED AGROFORESTRY SYSTEM
(HAJEE MOHAMMAD DANESH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, DINAJPUR-5200, BANGLADESH, 2024-06) RUMY, MST. ROWNAK JAHAN; Bari, Prof. Dr. Md. Shafiqul; Rahman, Prof. Dr. Md. Shoaibur
The demand and production of lettuce in Bangladesh are facing challenges due to suitable land, changing weather and climate. A potential alternative is cultivating lettuce in vertical agricultural production systems i.e. under agroforestry systems, but information about lettuce production systems and fertilizer application in different agroforestry systems is scarce. Therefore, this investigation was conducted to identify suitable lettuce production systems and eco-friendly, cost-effective fertilizers applications to maximize lettuce productivity in different systems. The research was conducted at the Department of Agroforestry and Environment of Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur, using two experimental field, one is open i.e. “lettuce sole” and other experimental field with a moringa orchard (variety: Baromashi; age of tree: 6 years; tree spacing: 4m × 4m; Planting orientation: north south). The experiment involved two lettuce production systems (“lettuce sole-S1” and “lettuce + moringa- S2”) and four fertilizer application packages- F1 (chemical fertilizers @ FRG.2014), F2 (cow dung @ 10 t ha-1), F3 (poultry manure @ 5 t ha-1) and F4 (No fertilizer). The experiment was carried out using a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The total number of experimental plots of lettuce were 24. All the lettuce seedling in two production systems were sown using spacing of 40m×25cm per plot. The result of the experiment revealed that the different production systems had significant effect on all the growth and yield parameters like Plant height, number of leaves, leaf length, leaf breadth, weight of leaves. Yield of lettuce was also varied significantly, and the best yield (20.39 t ha-1) was recorded from production system S2 (Lettuce + Moringa) whereas, the lowest yield (10.05 t ha-1) was observed from production system S1 (Lettuce sole). In case of fertilizer applications, chemical fertilizer gave the best yield (22.51 t ha-1) while no fertilizer gave the lowest yield (10.52 t ha-1). The maximum dry matter content (14.69%) from S1F1 (Lettuce sole + chemical fertilizer) and ash content (3.37%) was recorded from S1F2 (Lettuce sole + cow dung) and the minimum dry matter content (9.05%) and ash content (0.91%) was recorded from S2F1 (Lettuce with moringa + chemical fertilizer) treatment. From the economic analysis, it was observed that the higher BCR 5.07 was recorded from production system S2F4 (Lettuce + Moringa) with no fertilizer application under moringa based agroforestry system. So, it was interesting about the research between two production systems that lettuce production in open field with no fertilizer application gave lower yield of lettuce than other fertilizer applications, when the economic return of S2 (Lettuce with Moringa) production is combined with economic return of moringa trees gave higher BCR which may be beneficial to moringa garden owner. The lower BCR 3.48 was from S1F2 (lettuce sole) with cow dung application. Finally, it may be concluded that the production system “Lettuce with Moringa” can be cultivated successfully in this region and further research should be done for final packages of fertilizer applications.
STUDY ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A SIMPLE PROCESSBASED MODEL ON TEA AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS IN BANGLADESH
(HAJEE MOHAMMAD DANESH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, DINAJPUR., 2020-06) ANAN, NISHAT; Professor Dr. Md. Shoaibur Rahman
The present study was an attempt to develop a basic event-based process model to represent the biological process of tea agroforestry systems and their environmental effects. This model was incorporated into a tea garden including tea and shade trees, which involves competition for energy, water, and nutrients and considered the spacing, thinning, pruning, and fertilizing as factors of production. The study area for tea and shaded tree plots was selected on Ratandighi Union, Panchagarh district, Bangladesh and the study was conducted, from 2018 to 2020. The study period was divided into six quarterly events, such as event-1 (March 2018-June 2018), event-2 (July 2018-October 2018), event-3 (November 2018-February 2019), event-4 (March 2019-June 2019), event-5 (July 2019-October 2019) and event-6 (November 2019-February 2020). The weather data were obtained from the AccuWeather site from March 2018 to February 2020. The findings of this study show that the highest mean temperature was 30.27°C in the unshaded site, but the temperature was 27.52°C in the shaded side from March to June. The coldest month was January in the studied area with a temperature of 19.45°C in the open site and 19.19°C in the shaded site. The variations of temperature had a significant impact on tree wood production. Nevertheless, the trend of tree LAI is consistent, and the stem volume of shade trees grows significantly from event-1 to event6 (March 2018 to February 2020). On the other hand, higher rainfall indicates an increase in the volume of tea production. However, the tea production was constant from event-1 to event-3 (March 2018 to February2019) due to the growth stage, and the production level increases after event-3 at the maturity stage. The findings of this study might be helpful to the policymaker and academic researcher for getting the more productive tea agroforestry system in Bangladesh.