RESPONSE OF VARIOUS SOURCES OF BIOCHAR IN IMPROVING SOIL HEALTH AND THE PROCESSING QUALITY OF POTATO

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the experimental field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207 during the period from November, 2019 to March, 2020 in Rabi season to find out the response of various sources of biochars in improving soil health and the processing quality of potato crop. The experiment had two factors. Factor A: Four different types of biochar, i. B 1 : Maize cob (5.00 t ha -1 ), ii. B ii 2 : Mahogany wood (5.00 t ha ), iii. B 3 : (Cow dung + Sawdust) (5.00 t ha -1 ) and iv. B 4 : Cow dung (5.00 t ha ) and Factor B: Three different types of potato, i. V : BARI Alu-29 (Courage), ii. V 2 : BARI Alu-28 (Lady Rosetta) and iii. V 3 1 : BARI Alu-25 (Asterix). The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three (3) replications. Total 36 unit-plots were made for the experiment with 12 treatments. Different potato varieties and/or different sources of biochar showed significant impact on different morphological, yield and qualitative characters of potato. The maximum number of tubers hill⁻ ¹ (7.56), the maximum weight of tubers hill⁻ ¹ (307.39 g), the highest tuber yield (30.74 t ha⁻ ¹), the maximum marketable yield (22.59 t ha⁻ ¹), the highest specific gravity of tuber (1.067 g cm -3 ) , the maximum tuber dry matter (22.27%) and the maximum starch content on potato (16.73 mg g -1 FW) were recorded from B (Maize cob) treatment. In case of combination treatment, the maximum weight of tuber hill⁻ ¹ (369.69 g), the highest tuber yield (36.97 t ha⁻ ¹) and the maximum marketable yield (27.17 t ha⁻ ¹) was observed in Asterix variety of potato with maize cob biochar (V 3 B 1 ) treatment combination. This combination (V ) also exhibited highest specific gravity (1.070), dry matter (22.67) and starch content (16.90 mg g -1 FW). So the application of maize cob biochar as the source of biochar with potato variety BARI Alu-25 (Asterix) seemed to be more suitable for getting higher yield and good quality potato.