INFLUENCE OF NITROGEN FERTILIZER AND PLANT DENSITY ON THE PERFORMANCE OF BLACKGRAM

Abstract

The experiment was conducted during the period from March to June, 2015 at the Research Farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU), Dhaka to find out the influence of nitrogen fertilizer and plant density on the performance of blackgram. Blackgram variety BARI Mash-3 (Hemantoo) was used as planting material for the study. The experiment comprised of two factors; Factor A: Levels of nitrogen (3 levels)- N 0 : 0 kg N ha -1 (control), N 1 : 20 kg N ha : 40 kg N ha -1 and Factor B: Plant density (4 levels)- D 1 : 15 plants m : 30 plants m -2 , D 3 : 45 plants m -2 , D 4 : 60 plants m -2 . The experiment was laid out in a split-plot design with three replications. Nitrogen level were assigned to main plots and plant densities to sub plots. Data on different yield parameters and yield of blackgram were recorded and statistically significant variation was observed for different treatments. In case of nitrogen fertilizer, at harvest the tallest plant (61.91 cm), the longest pod (5.59 cm), the highest weight of 1000seeds (40.83 g) and the highest seed yield (1.23 t ha

-1 ) were found from N (40 kg N ha -1 ), while the shortest plant (56.20 cm), the shortest pod (5.14 cm), the lowest weight of 1000-seeds (36.88 g) and the lowest seed yield (0.89 t ha ) were recorded from N 0 (0 kg N ha -1 ). For plant density, at harvest, the tallest plant (62.97 cm), the longest pod (5.70 cm), the highest weight of 1000-seeds (40.83 g) and the highest seed yield (1.19 t ha -1 ) were recorded from D (45 plants m -2 ) and the shortest plant (57.62 cm) was found from D 1 -2 -1 , D 2 (15 plants m ), while the shortest pod (5.07 cm), the lowest weight of 1000-seeds (37.83 g) and the lowest seed yield (0.93 t ha -1 ) were recorded from D 4 (60 plants m ). Due to the interaction effect of nitrogen fertilizer and plant density, at harvest the tallest plant (68.29 cm), the longest pod (5.98 cm), the highest weight of 1000-seeds (42.34 g) and the highest seed yield (1.49 t ha -1 ) were recorded from N (40 kg N ha -1 + 45 plants m -2 ), whereas the shortest plant (51.18 cm) recorded from N 0 D 1 (0 kg N ha -1 + 15 plants m -2 ) but the shortest pod (4.82 cm), the lowest weight of 1000-seeds (34.33 g) and the lowest seed yield (0.73 t ha ) were found from N 0 D 4 (0 kg N ha -1 + 60 plants m -2 ). From the above results it was appeared that 40 kg N ha -1 with 45 plants m -2 provided the best yield attributes and yield of blackgram cv. BARI Mash-3.