EFFECTS OF NPKS AND COWDUNG ON THE PERFORMANCE OF OKRA (Abelmaschus esculentus L.)

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the research farm and laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology Department, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur, during March to August 2018 to evaluate the effect of different level of NPKS and cowdung fertilizers on growth and yield of okra. The experiment was laid out in two factors and Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Two okra varieties, such as Arka Anamica, BARI Dherosh-1 and five fertilizer treatments, such as T1 = control (no. fertilizer and no. cowdung), T2 = (N 100 + P 35 + K 70 + S 20) Kg ha-1 (recommended dose of fertilizer for okra), T3 = ½ of T2 + cowdung (CD) 5 t ha-1 , T4 = ½ of T2 + cowdung 10 t ha-1 , T5 = ½ of T2 + cowdung 15 t ha-1 were tested. Combination of Arka Anamica (V1) and fertilizer treatment, T5 (T5 = ½ of T2 + cowdung 15 t ha-1 ) had higher plant height (cm), leaf number plant-1 , branch number plant-1 , leaf length (cm), leaf breadth (cm), nodal distance (cm), number of green fruit per plant, green fruit length per plant (cm), edible fruits weight per plant (g), edible fruits weight per plot (g) and edible fruits weight (t ha-1 ), higher seed number per fruits after maturity, seed weight per fruits(g), seed yield per plant (g), seed yield per plot (g), 1000-seed weight (g) and seed yield (t ha-1 ). Between two varieties Akra Anamika showed higher values in case of most of the parameter studied while BARI Dherosh-1 had minimum values in most of the parameters. BARI Dherosh-1 took minimum days to flower initiation and first flower initiation while Akra Anamika need some higher days for flowering. The seed yield (t ha-1 ) of okra was significantly affected by the interaction of variety and fertilizer. The highest (4.01 t ha-1 ) seed yield was observed at V1T5 combination and V2T1 combination gave the lowest (2.56 t ha-1 ) seed yield.