EFFECT OF POTASSIUM NITRATE AND DIFFERENT SALINE CONDITIONS ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF CHILLI

Abstract

The pot experiment was conducted in the “Field Lab of Plant Stress Management”,Horticultural Farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka during the period from October, 2015 to March, 2016 to find out the effect of potassium nitrate and different saline conditionson growth and yield of chilli. The experiment consisted of two factors: Factor A: Three levels of potassium nitrate as K : 0 mM KNO 3 /kg Soil, K 1 : 3.5 mM KNO 3 /kg Soil, K ii 2 : 7.0 mM KNO /kg Soil and Factor B: Four levels of sodium chloride as S 0 : 0 ds/m NaCl, S 1 3 : 5.0 ds/m NaCl, S : 10.0 ds/m NaCl, S : 15.0 ds/m NaCl. The experiment was laid out in Complete Randomized Design with three replications.The maximum number of fruits plant 1 3 (34.91) and fruit yield plant -1 (167.70 g) were obtained from K treatment while the minimum was found from control. In case of salinity, the maximum number of fruits plant 1 (35.33) and fruit yield plant -1 2 (165.00 g) were obtained from S while the minimum results were found from S treatment. Finally this experimental result suggests that, exogenous application of KNO 3 can effectively mitigate the deleterious effect of salinity in chilli production. The present study revealed that increasing level of salinity decreases the crop yield and negatively affects on other reproductive parameters of chilli.The treatment combination S 3 3 K (15 ds/m NaCl and 3.5 mM KNO 3 1 /kg soil) had the maximum sodium ion content in the soil (14.56 ds/m) and the yield plant -1 was 155.66 (g). The treatment combination S 3 K (15 ds/m NaCl and 7mM KNO

3 /kg soil) gave higher yield which was 157.66 (g).