PERFORMANCE OF GARLIC AND POTATO UNDER GUAVA BASED AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS IN CHAR LAND OF TISTA RIVER BASIN

Abstract

Two experiments were carried out at the charland of Kaunia upazila under Rangpur district, during November 2018 to March 2019 to observe the performance of garlic and potato under guava based agroforestry systems. The experiments were laid out with single factor Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) following three replications for garlic and four replications for potato. The treatments for garlic experiments were five distances from the tree base i.e. T1 (50 cm distance from tree base), T2 (80 cm distance from tree base), T3 (110 cm distance from tree base), T4 (140 cm distance from tree base) and T5 (170 cm distance from tree base). Whereas the treatments for potato experiments were three fertilizer and manure application. i.e. F0 (no fertilizer), F1 (only cowdung @ 10 t/ha) and F2 (only chemical fertilizer). The total number of experimental plots of garlic were15 and the size of each garlic plot was (1m×1m) = 1 m2 . On the other hand, the total number of experimental plots of potato were12 and the size of each potato plot was (2m×2m) = 4 m2 . The result of the garlic experiment revealed that the different distance from tree base had significantly effect on the growth and yield of garlic under guava based agroforestry systems. Except plant height rest of all the growth parameter like number of leaves, leaf length, leaf breadth, size of garlic, weight of garlic, number of cloves/garlic were varied significantly. Yield of garlic was also varied significantly and the highest yield (7.40 t/ha) was recorded at open condition and the lowest yield (5.46 t/ha) was recorded in closest distance from tree base. i.e. treatment (T1). In case of potato experiment, it was also found that different fertilizer applications had the significantly effect on the growth and yield of potato. However, chemical fertilizer gave the best yield (10.31 t/ha) where no fertilizer gave low yield (7.17 t/ha). Again, cowdung gave the medium yield (9.88 t/ha) which was 4.17% less as compared to chemical fertilizer. From the economic analysis, it was observed that the higher BCR (3.59) was recorded in garlic cultivation at the floor of guava tree from 140 cm distance of tree base. On the other hand, the lower BCR (2.77) was recorded from 170 cm distance from tree base (open control). In case of potato cultivation in agroforestry system the higher BCR (2.07) was recorded where cowdung was applied and the lower BCR (1.81) was recorded where no fertilizer was applied. Finally, it may be concluded that garlic and potato can be cultivated successfully under newly established guava based agroforestry systems at the char land considering the additional returns as per investment in terms of money and time