GROWTH AND YIELD OF MUSTARD AS INFLUENCED BY FERTILIZER MANAGEMENT AND MECHANICAL WEEDING

Abstract

A Farm experiment was conducted at the Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU), during November 2018 to February 2019 with view to study the growth yield of mustard as influenced by poutry manure and weeding. The treatment factors were factor A; poultry manure [4 levels; P 0 - Recommended dose of fertilizer without poultry manure, P 1 - Recommended dose of fertilizer with recommended dose of poultry manure (10 t ha -1 ) P 2 - 25 % reduction of recommended dose of fertilizer with recommended dose of poultry manure and P 3 - 50 % reduction of recommended dose of fertilizer (BARI, 2006) with recommended dose of poultry manure] and factor B: mechanical weesing [ 3 levels, M 0 - No mechanical weed control, M 1 - Mechanical weed control once (at 20 DAS) and M 2 - Mechanical weed control twice (at 15 and 30 DAS)] . Mustard cv. BARI Sharisha-14 was used as plant material for the present study. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Poultry manure, mechanical weed control and their interactions showed significant variation on plant height, leaves plant , branches plant −1 , dry weight plant −1 , siliqua plant −1 , seeds silliqua iii −1 , length of siliqua, weight of 1000-seeds/m -2 , grain yield, stover yield, biological yield, harvest index and weed population in mustard field. The tallest plant (95.33 cm) and highest number of leaves plant −1 (16.73) at harvest was recorded from the combination of Recommended dose of fertilizer with poultry manure and two mechanical weeding at 15 and 30 DAS ( P 1 M 2 ) treatment. The maximum number of branches plant −1 (8.07), highest dry matter weight plant −1 (729.87 g), maximum number of silliqua plant (257.10), highest number of seeds siliqua −1 (14.22), maximum weight of 1000-seed (3.32 g), highest grain yield (1.57 t ha −1 ) and maximum harvest index (30.58 %) at harvest was found in combined use of 25% less poultry manure with poultry manure and two times weeding (P 2 M 2 ) treatment. The maximum number of weed population (40.70 m −2 ) was found from P 1 M 0 (Recommended dose of fertilizer with poultry manure and no mechanical weeding) and the minimum weed (31.67 m −2 ) was from 50% less poultry manure with poultry manure and two mechanical weeding at 15 DAS and 30 DAS (P 3 M 2 ). 25% less recommended poultry manure with poultry manure and two times mechanical weeding showed better performance on growth and yield of mustard.