Abstract:
The experiment was carried out at Agroforestry Field Laboratory, Sher-e-Bangla
Agricultural University, Dhaka−1207 during the period from October 2018 to
January 2019 to investigate tomato cultivation during the early establishment period
of Moringa plantation. The experiment consisted of four treatments viz., T
1
(30 cm
distance from the tree base), T
2
(40 cm distance from the tree base), T
3
(50 cm
distance from the tree base) and T
4
(Open field as control). Experiment was laid out
in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. In case of
growth parameters, the highest plant height of Tomato (71.83 cm) and number of
branches per plant of Tomato (8.34) were observed in control condition (T
4
) but in
tree-crop association, the highest plant height (69.49 cm) and number of branches
per plant (7.00) were recorded in T
3
treatment whereas the lowest result was
observed from T
1
treatment with plant height (49.59 cm) and number of branch per
plant (4.33). Regarding canopy spreading of Moringa tree, the highest spreading
(N/S = 225.0 cm and E/W 240.0 cm) was found from treatment T
3
and in T
2
canopy
spreading were (N/S = 205.00 cm and E/W = 185.00 cm) whereas the lowest canopy
spreading (N/S = 180.00 cm and E/W = 173.30 cm) was found from T
1
treatment.
In terms of yield contributing parameters and yield, with tree-crop interaction T
3
showed the lowest days to 1
st
flowering and T
4
showed the lowest
days (64.33 days)
to 1
st
harvest whereas the highest days to flowering and days to 1
harvest was
achieved from T
1
treatment (35.67 and 70.33 days, respectively). The highest fruit
diameter (6.17 cm), number of fruits per plant
(29.67), fruit yield per plant (2367.07
g), individual fruit weight (81.91 g), fruit yield per plot
(9.09 kg) and fruit yield per
ha (42.08 t) was also found control treatment T
4
but under tree-crop interaction, the
highest fruit diameter (5.79 cm), number of fruits per plant (26.33), fruit yield per
plant(2014.52 g), individual fruit weight (77.16 g), fruit yield per plot
(7.78 kg) and
fruit yield per ha (34.16 t) were obtained from T
3
treatment whereas the lowest fruit
diameter (4.42 cm), number of fruits per plant (14.00), fruit yield per plant (933.82
g), individual fruit weight (66.42 g), fruit yield per plot
(3.61 kg) and fruit yield per
ha (16.05 t) were obtained from T
1
treatment. Distance between tree and crop had
strong positive correlation with almost all parameters. Estimated regression line,
based on observed data points, predicted optimum distance of Tomato plot from one
year old Moringa tree would be approximately 80 cm for maximum Tomato yield
(44.29 t/ha) in Moringa based Agroforestry system.
Description:
A Thesis
Submitted to the Faculty of Agriculture
Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE
IN
AGROFORESTRY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE