ERFORMANCE OF CAULIFLOWER AS INTERCROP UNDER MORINGA BASED AGROFORESTRY SYSTEM

Abstract

Executive Summary An experiment was conducted in Agroforestry Field Laboratory at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka to find out the effect of planting distances on growth, yield and yield attributing characters of Cauliflower with four year old of Moringa (Moringa oliaferae) trees. The study was conducted by following Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) comprising of four treatments with four replications. Four treatments were T (50 cm distance from tree base), T 2 (100 cm distance from tree base), T (150 cm distance from tree base) and T 4

54 3 (open field condition as control). Significant variations were observed in respect of all characters at different days after Transplanting (DAT) with different planting distances. Maximum no. of leaves (15.20), leaf length (34.13cm), leaf breadth (14.53 cm), stem diameter (1.45 cm), full weight (753.68 g), curd weight (421.18 g), curd diameter (14.30 cm), fresh (308.05 g) and dry (19.9 8g) weight of leaves, fresh weight of root (24.45 g), root length (17.38 cm) found in T treatment. Minimum no. of leaves (13.65), leaf length (31.23 cm), leaf breadth (12.33 cm), stem diameter (1.18 cm), full weight (459.03 g), curd weight (290.58 g), curd diameter (12.95 cm), curd height (13.68 cm), fresh (155.23 g) and dry (13.53 g) weight of leaves, fresh weight of root (13.23 g) and dry weight of root (4.20 g), root length (12.10 cm) found in T 4 treatment. The highest plant height (39.35 cm) and maximum curd initiation day (62.88 day), curd height (14.90 cm) found in T 1 treatment. But in all other parameters T treatment showed the second best results. The results demonstrated that the proximity of cauliflower to Moringa trees significantly influenced its performance. These findings suggest that a closer association with Moringa trees inversely influenced cauliflower's vegetative growth and yield.