EFFECT OF DECOMPOSED SHRIMP SHELL POWDER ON THE GROWTH, YIELD AND NUTRIENT CONTENT OF INDIAN SPINACH (Basella alba)

Abstract

Chitin and chitosan are naturally-occurring compounds that have potential use in agriculture. Shrimp shell powder was decomposed with cowdung and the decomposed shrimp shell powder was analyzed and found as a good source of plant nutrition and soil productivity. A field experiment was conducted at the net house of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU), Dhaka-1207, during the period from December, 2020 to March , 2021 to study the effect of decomposed shrimp shell powder on the growth, yield and nutrient content under Indian spinach (Basella alba) cultivation. The experiment was designed with eight treatments using seven different levels of the decomposed shrimp shell powder and the treatments were as follows: T 1 =0.1%, T 3 =0.5%, T 4 =1%, T 5 =2%, T 6 =3%, T 7 =4%, T 8 =5%. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. Results revealed that application of the decomposed shrimp shell powder significantly improves plants growth characters viz. plant height, fresh weight, oven dry weight etc. and also improves nutrient content of post-harvest soil viz. OM & OC, total nitrogen, available phosphorous & available sulphur. Results also revealed that application decomposed SSP improves soil pH. With the increasing dose of the decomposed SSP, most of the morphological and yield attributes of Indian spinach as well as soil fertility were increased. Whereas, control plants showed the lowest value of above parameters. The maximum, yield and nutrient status of post-harvest soil were recorded in T 8 . The experimental results revealed that the decomposed SSP had no negative impact on the production of Indian spinach. 3% and 4% application of the decomposed SSP in soil also gives similar yield as 5% application. The experimental results disclosed that T8 having 5% application of decomposed SSP performed well and produced maximum plant height, total fresh weight , oven dry weight of Indian spinach. The treatments T 5 , T 6 , T 7 had statistically similar results with the treatment T 8 in case of plant height and fresh weight. The treatment T 7 had highest individual plant weight. Results also showed that T 8 had maximum value of soil chemical characteristic such as soil organic matter content, organic carbon content, total nitrogen, available phosphorous and available sulphur content in post-harvest soil. Soil pH value was also increased by using the organic manure/material. Taken together, the results indicate that the application of the decomposed SSP in soil has a significant effect on the growth & yield and nutrient content of Indian spinach and it also improves the soil fertility. The material could play a significant role in organic vegetable production.