EFFECT OF MICRONUTRIENTS AND MULCHING ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF BROCCOLI

Abstract

The experiment was conducted in the Horticulture Farm, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka during October 2015 to February 2016. The experiment consisted of two factors, such as Factor A: four levels of micronutrients i.e. T 0 : No micronutrients, T 1 ii : Zn 4.0 kg/ha, T 2 : Zn 4.0 kg/ha, T 3 : Zn 4.0 + B 1.5 + Mo 1.0 + B 1.5 kg/ha and Factor B: mulching materials (3 levels) as- M 0 : No mulch (control), M 1 : Water hyacinth, M 2 : Black polythene. The two factorial experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Micronutrients and mulching influenced significantly on most of the parameters. In case of micronutrients, the highest curd yield (24.20 t/ha) was found from T 3 and the lowest curd yield (18.44 t/ha) was found from T 0 . For mulching, M 2 performed the highest curd yield (25.23 t/ha) and the lowest (15.29 t/ha) was from M 0 . For combined effect, the highest curd yield (28.76 t/ha) was obtained from T 3 M 2 and the lowest curd yield (12.97 t/ha) from T 0 . The highest benefit cost ratio (2.14) was noted from the combination of T 3

and the lowest benefit cost ratio (1.09) from T 0 M 0 . So, Zn 4.0 + B 1.5 kg/ha micronutrients in presence of recommended N 120 P 100 K 150 S 20 kg/ha fertilizer with water hyacinth mulch can be used for commercial broccoli production.