EFFECT OF POTASSIUM AND MULCHING ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF POTATO

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted during the period from November 2017 to March 2018 at Horticultural farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka. The variety “Diamant” was used as a test crop. Four levels of potassic fertilizer (KCl) viz. K 0 : (Control), K 1 : 110 kg/ha,

K 2 : 140 kg/ha, K : 170 kg/ha and three types of mulches viz. M 0 : (Control), M 1 : Straw, M 2 3 : Black polythene was used for the present study. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Different potassium level showed significant influence on most of the parameters and the treatment. The highest yield (27.20 t ha -1 ) of potato was obtained in K 2 treatment where as the lowest (12.25 t ha -1 ) was obtained from K . For mulches, the highest yield (24.57 t ha -1 ) was obtained in M and the lowest (17.68 t ha -1 ) was obtained from the M 0 1 treatment . In terms of combined effect of potassium and mulching, most of the studied parameters were influenced significantly. The highest yield (31.75 t ha -1 ) was recorded from the treatment combination of K

whereas the lowest yield (9.74 t ha -1 ) was found in the treatment combination K

. So, 140 kg/ha potassium fertilizer with straw mulch gave the maximum yield.

2 0 0 M M 1 0