Soil: The soil of the experimental area was shallow red brown terrace soil and belongs to the Modhupur Tract (UNDP, 1988) under AEZ 28.
Planting Materials: The seed of Tokyo-X (cross) a Japanese variety were used in this experiment. The seeds were collected from Dhaka Seed Store, Siddique Bazar, Dhaka.
Treatment of the Experiment; The experiment was designed to study the effect of mulching and fertilizers on growth and yield of turnip. The experiment considered of two factors. Details were presented below: Factor A: Mulching (2 levels)
i.Non mulch/Control (Mo)
ii. Mulch of water hyacinth (Mi)
Factor B: Fertilizers (6 levels)
i. Without Fertilizers (Fo)
ii. Cowdung (F1)
iii. Oil cake (F2)
iv. Cowdung + Oil cake (F3)
v. Urea + Triple Super Phosphate + Muriate of potash (F4)
vi. Cowdung + Urea + Triple Super Phosphate + Muriate of potash (F5)
There were 12 (2 x 6) treatment combinations such as M0Fq, MqF1 M0F2, M0F3j, M0F4, MqF5, M1Fo,M1,F1,M1,F2,M1F3,M1F4,M1F5.
Layout of the Experiment: The experiment was laid out in two factors Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications.
Application of Mulch Treatment: Water hyacinth mulch was provided immediately after emergence of seedling where small holes were made previously before used the mulch with maintaining proper spacing for seedling. The thickness of water hyacinth was maintained near about 10 cm.
Data collection: The data were collected from the inner rows of plants of each treatment to avoid the border effect. In each unit plot, 10 plants were selected at random for data collection. Data were collected in respect of the plant growth characters and yield of turnip. Data on plant height, number of leaves/plant and length of leaf were counted at 25, 35, 45, 55 days after sowing and at harvest. However, for yields per plot all the 10 plants of each unit plot were considered.
Statistical analysis: The data obtained for different characters were statistically analyzed to find out the significance of the difference levels of N fertilizers and mulches on yield and yield contributing characters of turnip. The mean values of all the characters were evaluated and analysis of variance was performing by the ‘F’ (variance ratio) test. The significance of the difference among the treatment combinations means was estimated by the Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at 5% level of probability (Gomez and Gomez, 1984).