EFFECT OF NITROGEN AND POTASSIUM ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF STEM AMARANTH (Amaranthus oleraceusi

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period from March to June 2006 to study the effect of different levels of nitrogen and potassium on growth and yield of stem amaranth. The experiment considered two factors. viz., Four levels of nitrogen (0 kg N/ha (Control), 90 kg N/ha, 100 kg N/ha, 110 kg N/ha) and four levels of potassium (0 kg K20/ha (Control), 120 kg K20/ha, 130 kg K20lha, 140 kg K20/ha). A statistically significant variation was recorded in respect of all characters in relation with different levels of nitrogen at 30, 45, 60 and 75 DAS. At 75 DAS N3 gave the maximum plant height (107.90 cm), diameter of stem (26.81 mm), number of leaves per plant (45.90), length of leaf (26.18 cm), petiole length (10.14 cm) and petiole diameter (3.70 mm), yield (60.79 t/ha), while the control treatment gave the lowest value. Potassium fertilizer showed a statistically significant variation in terms of characters at 30, 45, 60 and 75 DAS. At 75 DAS treatment K3 gave the maximum plant height (106.53 cm), stem diameter (25.38 mm), number of leaves per plant (44.95), length of leaf (25.51 cm), petiole length (9.80 cm) and petiole diameter (3.63 mm), yield (67.67 t/ha), while the control treatment gave the lowest value. The combined effect showed significant differences. The maximum growth and yield was performed with the combination N3K3 and the minimum was obtained in control condition i.e. N0Ko. The highest (3.02) benefit cost ratio was obtained from treatment combination N3K3 and the lowest (0. 76) was found from control treatment.