INFLUENCE OF Azolla AND UREA ON NODULATION, GROWTH AND YIELD OF MUNGBEAN

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out at the research field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka during the period of March to June 2014 to study the influence of Azolla and urea on nodulation, growth and yield of mungbean. The treatments were two mungbean (Vigna radiata) varieties viz. BARI mung-5 (V 1 ) and Chaiti mung (V 2 ) and five fertilizer materials viz. 100% urea (F 1 ), 75% urea+ 25% Azolla (F 2 ), 50% urea+ 50% Azolla (F 3 ), 25% urea+ 75% Azolla (F 4 ) and 100% Azolla (F 5 ). The experiment was laid out into Split-plot design with three replications where varieties were assigned in the main plot and fertilizer materials in the sub-plot. The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate variations between the local and modern variety of mungbean and to study the possibility of substituting chemical fertilizer by biofertilizer (Azolla). Results revealed that plant height, number of leaflets plant , number of branches plant -1 , number of nodules plant -1 and shoot length was higher in BARI mung-5 at early stage but from 45 DAS to harvest these values were higher in Chaiti mung as it is an indeterminate variety of mungbean. Significantly higher economic yield (1.35 t ha -1 ) was obtained from the BARI mung-5 compared to the Chaiti mung (0.98 t ha -1 ). The modern variety (BARI mung-5) showed higher harvest index (22.30) and 1000-seed weight (42.74 g) compared to the local variety (Chaiti mung). Varieties had no significant influence on SPAD value and seeds pod -1 of mungbean. Fertilizer materials and the interaction of variety and fertilizer materials had no significant effect on 1000-seed weight, economic yield, biological yield and harvest index of mungbean that reflects the positive indication of replacing chemical fertilizer by Azolla. -1