EFFECT OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZER AND NORTHERN COMPOST ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF OKRA (Abelmoschus esculentus L.)

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted in the open space of shade house at HSTU, Dinajpur from May to September, 2023 to study the combined effects of inorganic fertilizer and northern compost, amended in soil on the growth and yield of okra. The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 6 treatments and 3 replications. The soil was sandy loam and the pH, organic matter, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, exchangeable potassium, and available sulfur were 5.9, 0.74%, 0.1%, 22.7 ppm, 0.064 m.eq. 100 g-1 soil and 4.02 ppm, respectively. Six treatments were used which were T1 = control, T2 = 100% Recommended doses of fertilizer (RDF); T3 = 75% RDF + 2.5% Northern Compost (NC); T4 = 50% RDF + 5% NC, T5 = 25% RDF + 7.5% NC, T6 = 10% NC. The fertilizers were applied according to the treatment in an individual plots. N,P,K,S was applied as urea, TSP and MOP and gypsum at the rate of 150, 100, 150 and 40 kg ha-1 soil respectively. The results of the experiment revealed that plant height, total fruit weight plot-1 ', number of fruits plant,-1 and fruit length (cm) was significantly influenced by northern compost and N,P,K,S fertilizers. The T3 treatment (75% RDF +2.5% northern compost), produced the maximum result on total number of fruits (16), fruit weight plant,-1 (14.01 g), fruit length (11.5 cm), root length (12.7cm). The minimum result on plant height (10.8 cm), fruit weight plant-1 (8 g), no. of fruits plant (6.7), fruit length (9.3 cm) was recorded from T1 treatment (control). The result of post-harvest soil properties revealed that combined application of chemical fertilizer and northern compost significantly increased the total N, available P, exchangeable K, available S, and organic in the soil when compared with the control or sole application of chemical fertilizers. The overall results suggested that application of 75% RDF + 2.5% northern compost would be suitable for profitable okra cultivation in summer season.