R. Ahmed
Horticulture Research Centre, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur, Bangladesh
M.J. Hussain
Soil & Water Management Section, Horticulture Research Centre, BARI, Gazipur, Bangladesh
S. Ahmed
Biotechnology Division, BARI, Gazipur, Bangladesh
M.R. Karim
Horticulture Research Centre, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur, Bangladesh
M.A. Siddiky
Soil & Water Management Section, Horticulture Research Centre, BARI, Gazipur, Bangladesh
Marigold, NPK fertilizer, Optimum, Economic dose
Joydebpur, Gazipur
Crop-Soil-Water Management
Fertilizer, Marigold
The experiments were conducted at the Horticultural Research Farm, BARI, Gazipur during Rabi season of 2012-13 to 2014-15 to evaluate the response of marigold yield and yield attributes to N, P and K fertilizer and to find out the optimum and economic doses of NPK for maximizing yield of marigold. The initial soil characteristics of the experimental field were shown. The soil test values showed that the experimental soil was deficient in nutrients especially of N, P and K. The experiment was conducted following randomized complete block design with three replications. Treatments as T1, T2, T3, ……,T10 and T11 comprising with four levels of fertilizer nutrients each of N (0, 60, 90 and 120 kg ha-1), P (0, 30, 40 and 50 kg ha-1) and K (0, 60, 90 and 120 kg ha-1) along with a blanket dose of 2 kg B and 4 kg Zn ha-1. The unit plot size was 2 m x2 m. The row to row and plant to plant spacing were 50 cm and 40 cm, respectively. Every plot except control had received a blanket dose of 2 kg B and 4 kg Zn ha-1. Urea, TSP, MoP, boric acid and zinc sulphate were used as a source of N, P, K, B and Zn, respectively. All P, K, B, Zn and 1/3rd N were applied at the time of final land preparation and the remaining 2/3rds N were applied in two equal splits each at 30 and 45 days after transplanting. Thirty days old seedlings of marigold (var. BARI Marigold-1) were planted on 2nd December, 2012; 17th December, 2013 and 07th November, 2014 for the years, respectively. All intercultural operations such as three weeding were made and irrigation was done at 7 days interval up to harvesting. The flower was harvested four times from 13th February to 8th March, 2013, 13th February to 12th March, 2014 and 24th January to 2nd March, 2015, respectively. The data on plant height, number of flower per plant and yield contributing characters were recorded from ten randomly selected plants from each treatment. Data on yield and yield contributing characters were analyzed statistically and the mean differences were tested by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (Steel and Torrie, 1960). Soil pH was measured by a glass calomel electrode (Jackson, 1958). Total N was determined by modified Kjeldhl method and Ca, Mg were by KCL extractable method (Hunter, 1984).
The Agriculturists 15(1):101-109(2017)
Journal