GROWTH AND YIELD PERFORMANCE OF STEM AMARANTH UNDER MORINGA BASED AGROFORESTRY SYSTEM

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Agroforestry research field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University Dhaka, to evaluation of the growth and yield performance of stem amaranth (Amaranthus lividus) under moringa (Moringa oliefera) based Agroforestry system during the period from January 2020 to April 2020. The experiment was consisted of six treatments viz; T 1 = 25 cm distance from the tree base, T 2 = 50 cm distance from the tree base, T 3 = 75 cm distance from the tree base, T 4 =100 cm distance from the tree base, T 5 =125 cm distance from the tree base and T 6 = Open field referred to as control (Sole crop) treatment which were arranged by following Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). Data on different parameters were collected for assessing the results of this experiment and showed significant variation in respect of growth and yield of amaranth due to the effect of different treatments. In M. oleifera and A. lividus based agroforestry system, M. oleifera suppressed crop growth and productivity of A. lividus at closer distance from the tree row. Increasing distance from the M. oleifera trees gradually increasing the growth and yield characteristics of stem amaranth. Among different M. oleifera and A. lividus interactions, the highest yield (26.30 t ha -1 ) of A. lividus was obtained in T 5 (125 cm distance from the tree base) treatment comparable to others treatments. The crop (A. lividus) growth and yield decreased under M. oleifera tree but due to the presence of M. oleifera tree economical returns obtained from M. oleifera and A. lividus based agroforestry system was higher than sole cropping. In moringa amaranth interaction, the highest gross return (613700 Tk), net return (548034 Tk) and benefit cost ratio (9.35) were observed in T 5 (125 cm distance from the tree base) treatment and on the other hand the lowest gross return (314800), net return (264648), and benefit cost ratio (6.28) was observed in sole cropping.