EFFECTS OF BORON ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF SOYBEAN

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Soil Science Research Field, Hajee Mohammed Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU), Dinajpur during the period from March 2022 to May 2022 to investigate the effect of B on the growth and yield of soybean. The variety BARI Soyabean-5 was used as the test crop. The experiment comprised of 7 treatments: T1 = Control, T2 = 2 kg B ha-1, T3 = 4 kg B ha-1, T4 = 6 kg B ha-1, T5 = 8 kg B ha-1, T6 = 10 kg B ha-1, T7 = 12 kg B ha-1. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Different levels of B fertilization influenced the plant growth characters. Both the growth and yield increased with increasing the B level at certain level. In case of growth parameters, T5 (8 kg B ha-1) showed the maximum plant height (51.8, 65.7 and 82.0 cm at 30, 60 and 90 DAS, respectively), highest number of branches (4 at 90 DAS), number of leaves (13.11, 24 and 32.44 at 30, 60 and 90 DAS, respectively). Maximum pod number plant-1, maximum grain weight (1.64-t ha-1) and the highest average value for stover fresh and dry weight (8.60 and 6.75 t ha-1, respectively). Furthermost the highest pH value (6.60), total N (0.035%), available P, exchangeable K and available S (50.51 ppm, 16.91 meq 100g-1 soil and 8.22 ppm, respectively). The highest number of branches (2.22) at 60 DAS was found for T6 which was statistically similar with T5 and T7; the highest available B (0.34 ppm) for T7 (12 kg B ha-1) which was statistically similar with T5 and T6 treatment. Conversely, the control treatment (T1), without B supplementation, exhibited the minimum growth and development as well as the minimum pod number plant-1 (46.50) and the lowest grain weight (0.68 t ha-1) and also the least average value for stover fresh and dry weight (3.00 and 2.19 t ha-1, respectively) and lowest post-harvest soil nutrient that means a slight increase than the initial status. Therefore, the present experimental results suggest that the application of 8 kg B ha-1 with RDF would be beneficial to increase the seed yield of soybean variety BARI Soyabean-5 under the climatic and edaphic condition of HSTU, Dinajpur (AEZ-1).