Hasan, M.
Department of Soil, Water and Environment, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
N. Gani
Bangladesh Jute Research Institute, Dhaka, Bangladesh
M. D. Alam
Department of Soil, Water and Environment, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
M. T. A. Chowdhury
Department of Soil, Water and Environment, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Jute seed; Jute plant; Soil fertility; Organic matter; Nutrient elements
Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI), Manik Mia Avenue, Dhaka.
Crop-Soil-Water Management
Performance
The field experiment was conducted at the central station of Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI), Manik Mia Avenue, Dhaka. The site belongs to the AEZ-8, Young Brahmaputra and Jamuna Floodplain. Old unused jute seeds (≥3 years old) were collected from BJRI to make jute seed powder. The land was prepared with power tiller followed by harrowing and laddering. The individual plots were made 7.5 cm high and 10 cm deep drainage was made around each plot to restrict the lateral run- off of irrigation and/or rain water. The total experimental area was divided into three blocks and within each block there were six experimental plots. There were six treatment levels including control, with three replicates. In total, there were 18 experimental plots. The treatments were allocated to the plots following a randomized complete block design. The dimension of each plot was 3 m × 2.1 m having space between the plots as well as between the blocks. Old jute seed powder (JSP) was applied as a source of organic matter at the rate of 5 t/ha. Chemical fertilizers, such as urea, triple super phosphate (TSP), muriate of potash (MP) and gypsum as the sources of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and sulfur, respectively, were applied in different combinations on the basis of the recommended dose of the fertilizers (RDF) (200 kg urea + 50 kg TSP + 60 kg MP + 100 kg Gypsum) (BARC, 2005). Six treatment combinations of JSP and RDF were: Treatment T1 = Control (without JSP and chemical fertilizers), Treatment T2 (JSP + ¼ RDF) = 5 t/ha JSP + 50 kg urea + 12.5 kg TSP + 15 kg MP + 25 kg gypsum, Treatment T3 (JSP + ½ RDF) = 5 t/ha JSP + 100 kg urea + 25 kg TSP + 30 kg MP + 50 kg gypsum, Treatment T4 (JSP + ¾ RDF) = 5 t/ha JSP + 150 kg urea + 37.5 kg TSP + 45 kg MP + 75 kg gypsum, Treatment T5 (RDF) = 200 kg urea + 50 kg TSP + 60 kg MP + 100 kg gypsum, and Treatment T6 (JSP) = 5 t/ha JSP. Old jute seed powder was applied to soil 15 days prior to the sowing of new jute seeds to let the old jute seed powder to be decomposed. For the nitrogen fertilizer, half of the dose was applied to each of the plots before sowing of jute seeds and the remaining half was applied 45 days after germination of jute seeds. The seeds of an approved high yielding variety of jute O-9897 were sown at a distance of 10 cm in line maintaining a 30 cm gap between the lines in the plots. Irrigation was done in furrow irrigation system to maintain water supply to the plots. Loosening of the soil was done using hoe 25 days after sowing the seeds. After germination of the jute seeds, gap filling was done by re-sowing of jute seeds. Weeding and thinning were done at 8, 25 and 45 days after sowing of seeds. The plants were harvested at the age of 120 days where about 80% of the plants showed the sign of maturity. After harvesting, the jute plants from each of the experimental plots were tied separately with tagged rope into bundles and a number of plant parameters, such as plant height, base diameter, fiber weight, and stick weight of the randomly selected 10 harvested jute plants, was measured. Fiber weight was taken after retting and drying of the jute fibers. Stick weight was taken after drying of the jute sticks in the sun. Surface soil samples (0-15 cm) were collected from the experimental plots prior to the application of JSP for background analysis. After harvesting of the jute plants, the residual soil samples were also collected from each of the experimental plots for chemical analysis. The soil samples were processed and analyzed following the methods described in Chowdhury et al. (2010). Various physical, chemical and physico-chemical properties of the soil samples (e.g. moisture content, particle size analysis, bulk density, particle density, pH, organic matter content, total contents of calcium, magnesium, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur and zinc, and available nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and sulfur) were analyzed in the laboratory following the procedures described in Huq and Alam (2005). Statistical analysis and graphical presentation of the data were performed using the statistical software Minitab v.18 and Microsoft Excel 2016.
J. Biodivers. Conserv. Bioresour. Manag. 2019, 5(2): 33-40
Journal