INFLUENCE OF PHOSPHORUS FERTILIZER ON THE PRODUCTIVITY OF LENTIL

Abstract

An experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of phosphorus fertilizer application on growth, yield and yield components of lentil at the Agronomy Research Field ofDepartment ofSher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh during November 2013 to March 2014. Four lentil cultivars (BARI Masur 4, BARI Masur 5, BARI Masur 6 and BARI Masur 7) and four levels of phosphorus (0, 20, 40 and 60 kg P ha-1) were used in this experiment as treatment variables. Cultivars showed significant difference on numbers of nodule, total dry matter and effective branch production.Significant variations due to cultivars were also found in respect of seed yield. The highest seed yield (1.76 t ha-1) was observed in BARI Masur7 while the lowest in BARI Masur 5(1.37 t ha-1). Phosphorus fertilizers had a significant effect on the yield of yield attributes of lentil. The highest seed yield(1.72 t ha-1) was observed from 40 kg P2O5 ha-1 and the lowest (1.24 t ha-1) from 0 kg P2O5 ha-1.Interaction of cultivar and phosphorus levels showed significant influence on all the plant characters studied except plant height and branch production. The highest seed yield (1.98 t ha-1) was obtained from the combination of BARI Masur 7 with 40 kg P2O5 ha-1, and the lowest (1.08 t ha-1) was from BARI Masur 5 with 0 kg P2O5 ha-1. Addition of phosphorus fertilizer beyond 40 kg ha-1 decreased seed yield irrespective of varieties. Results revealed that application of phosphorus fertilizer offers a large scope for obtaining higher yield of lentil in Bangladesh. However application of phosphorus fertilizer at the rate of 40 kg P2O5 ha-1 would be the optimum for achieving higher yield irrespectiveof cultivars. BARI Masur 6 and BARI Masur 7 were found superior to BARI Masur 4 and BARI Masur 5 in respect of seed yield.