GROWTH AND YIELD PERFORMANCE OF STRAWBERRY AS INFLUENCED BY PHOSPHORUS AND MULCH MATERIALS

Abstract

A field experiment was accomplished in the Horticulture farm of Sher-eBangla Agricultural

University, Dhaka during the period from October 2018 to March 2019 to study the effect of phosphorus fertilizers and mulches on strawberry. Phosphorus levels viz. P 0 (0 kg/ha.), P 1 ii

(120 kg/ha.), P 2 (170 kg/ha.), P 3 (220 kg/ha.) and Mulches: M 0 (No mulch application), M 1 (Paddy straw), M 2 (Black polythene) were used in this experiment arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Data on different growth and yield attributes parameters were taken in which all the treatment showed significant variations. Among phosphorus levels, maximum fruits number (27.78/plant), fruit yield (14.54 g), total fruit yield (401.0 g/plant), brix percentage (6.64%) were found from P 3 whereas minimum in P 0

and among mulches, maximum fruits number (24.17/plant), fruit yield (13.78 g), total fruit yield (328.6 g/plant), brix percentage (5.84%) were found from M 2 whereas minimum in M 0 . Maximum fruit yield (474.5 g/plant) were found in P 3 M 2 and minimum (180.4 g/plant) in P 0 M 0 . In view of overall performances, this study suggests that 220 kg/ha of phosphorus fertilizers with black polythene mulch (P 3 M 2 ) have the potentiality for higher yield of strawberry.