EFFECT OF FERTILIZER DOSE AND BLACKGRAM HARVEST TIME ON FODDER YIELDS UNDER MAIZE-BLACKGRAM INTERCROPPING SYSTEM

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at the Agronomy field laboratory of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207 during the period from October 2013 to January 2014 to find out the effect of fertilizer dose and blackgram harvest time on fodder yields under maize-blackgram intercropping system. Maize (local variety) was used as the main fodder crop and blackgram variety BARI Mash-3 as an intercrop. The experiment consisted 14 treatment as combination of recommended fertilizer and 20% more than recommended fertilizer with different harvesting time of blackgram which are T1 = FRH40, T2 = FRH50, T3 = FRH60, T4 = FRH70, T5 = FRH80, T6 = FRH90, T7 = FR+20%H40, T8 = FR+20%H50, T9 = FR+20%H60, T10 = FR+20%H70, T11 = FR+20%H80, T12 = FR+20%H90, T13 = Sole maize and T14 = Sole blackgram. Here, FR: Recommended dose of fertilizer (Cowdung: 10 t ha-1; Urea: 350 kg ha-1; TSP: 250 kg ha-1; MoP: 200 kg ha-1; Zypsum: 170 kg ha-1 and Zinc sulphate: 15 kg ha-1), FR+20%: More than 20% fertilizer of recommended dose, H40: Blackgram harvest at 40 DAS, H50: Blackgram harvest at 50 DAS, H60: Blackgram harvest at 60 DAS, H70: Blackgram harvest at 70 DAS, H80: Blackgram harvest at 80 DAS and H90: Blackgram harvest at 90 DAS. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Significant difference among the treatments was observed for fodder yield and yield contributing charcters of maize and blackgram. The minimum light intensity (131.94 Lx) was observed from the late harvested blackgram plots. The longest plants were obtained from sole maize. The highest maize fodder yields (25.53 t ha-1) was obtained from T13 treatment, whereas the lowest (20.73 t ha-1) from T7 treatment. The highest blackgram fodder yields (9.89 t ha-1) were obtained from T14 treatment. The highest (1.86) land equivalent ratio (LER) was recorded from T12 treatment and the lowest (1.00) from the sole crop both maize and blackgram. The highest equivalent yield (EY) of fodder maize (35.06 t ha-1) was recorded from T12 treatment. The highest EY of fodder blackgram (28.05 t ha-1) was recorded from T12 treatment. The study revealed that application of recommended fertilizer + 20% more than recommended fertilizer and harvest at 90 DAS would be optimum for achieving higher fodder yield under maize-blackgram intercropping system.