The field study was carried out on farmers’ homestead at Toratpara, Dhirrashram, Gazipur during the period from July 2007 to April 2009. The experimental site is located in the centre of the agro-ecological zone of Downloaded by Madhupur Tract (AEZ-28) at about 24? 23 north latitude and 90? 08 east longitude having a mean elevation of 8.4 m above mean sea level and about 34 km north of Dhaka city. The experimental site was a high land having silty clay soil. The soil was slightly acidic (pH 6.4) and low in organic matter (0.87%), total nitrogen (N; 0.09%), exchangeable potassium (K; 0.13 cmol kg−1). Soil sulfur (S) content was at par with critical levels, while phosphorus (P) and zinc (Zn) were above critical levels. Eight treatments were formulated. The experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four dispersed replications. Urea, triple superphosphate (TSP), muriate of potash (MoP) and gypsum were used as chemical sources of N, P, K, and S, respectively. Poultry manure (PM) contained 0.99% N, 1.10% P, 1.1% K, and 0.5% S while cowdung (CD) had 0.55% N, 0.80% P, 0.56% K, 0.12% S, the nutrient composition of household waste (HW) was 0.65% N, 0.70% P, 0.85% K, and 0.15% S, repectively. Full amounts of P, K, S, CD, HW, and PM were applied as per treatment at the time of final land preparation. The one-third N for cabbage, one-fourth N for brinjal and one-half N for red amaranth were applied at the time of land preparation and the remaining N was applied in equal splits for cabbage at 20 and 40 days after planting (DAP), for brinjal at 21, 35 and 50 DAP and for red amaranth at 20 DAS (days after sowing). A vegetable cropping pattern viz. cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) (November-February), brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) (March-mid-July) and red amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor ) (August-September) was grown in the same plot in succession. The experiment was conducted following randomized complete block design, with four disperse replications. The unit plot size was 2.3 m × 1.3 m and the experimental plots were kept fixed during the entire periods of the experiment. The seedlings of first crop cabbage (cv. ‘Autumn Queen’) were transplanted maintaining a spacing of 60 cm × 45 cm on 3 and 10 November 2007 and 2008, respectively. After harvesting the cabbage, brinjal (cv. ‘Shingnath’) seedlings were transplanted on 10 and 15 March 2008 and 2009, respectively. After the harvest of second crop, the seeds of the third crop (red amaranth, cv. ‘BARI Lalshak-1’) were sown continuously in line with a distance of 20 cm between lines on August 2008 and 2009, respectively. The experimental plots were kept fixed over the years. All intercultural operations, such as weeding, mulching, irrigation and pest management were done as and when required. Harvesting was done at the right stage of maturity as per the nature of the particular crop. The cabbage was harvested on 25 January to 15 February in the first year and 1 January to 17 February in the second year. Brinjal fruit was harvested from 15 May to 10 July in 2008 and 10 May to 3 July in 2009. The harvesting of edible red amaranth was done on 15 and 20 September in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Soil samples at 0–15 cm depth were collected, dried and ground for chemical analysis. Bulk density was determined by core sampler method, soil pH was by glass electrode pH meter (1:2.5) and organic carbon by wet oxidation method (Walkley and Black, 1935). Total N content of soil was determined by Kjeldahl method, and available P, exchangeable K and available S contents by 0.5 M sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3; pH 8.5), ammonium acetate (NH4OAc), and calcium chloride (CaCl2) extraction methods. Plant samples (whole plants) at harvest were collected for NPKS levels. Concentrated nitric acid (HNO3) was used for digestion of plant samples. Extractable P and S were estimated colorimetrically by spectrophotometer and extractable K directly by atomic absorption spectroscopy (Model No. 170-30; Hitachi, Tokyo, Japan). Nutrient uptake was calculated. The analysis of variance for various crop characters and nutrient uptake by plants was performed following the ANOVA technique and the mean values were adjudged by DMRT (P = 0.05) method.