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Containerized Soil-less Vegetable Seedlings Production Techniques and Profitability for Bangladesh

Prosanta K. Dash
Agrotechnology Discipline, Life Science School, Khulna University, Khulna-9208, Bangladesh

Shimul Das
Agrotechnology Discipline, Life Science School, Khulna University, Khulna-9208, Bangladesh

Joyanti Ray
Agrotechnology Discipline, Life Science School, Khulna University, Khulna-9208, Bangladesh

Sangeeta Mukherjee
Agrotechnology Discipline, Life Science School, Khulna University, Khulna-9208, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Owing to less quality and environmental limitations of traditionally cultivated mud-bed seedlings the present research aimed at identifying a suitable containerized vegetable seedling production system pertinent to Bangladesh and to assess the profitability of using containerized seedlings relative to traditional mud-bed seedlings. The experiments were conducted at Professor Purnendu Gain field laboratory of the Agrotechnology Discipline, Khulna University, Bangladesh from December 1, 2019, to March 15, 2020, using a completely randomized design (CRD) with five replications. The experiment consisted of tomato, eggplant, sweet gourd, cauliflower vegetables maintain various growing media viz. mud-bed (control), plastic cell tray, plastic cup (large), plastic cup (small). The plastic cell tray seedling production system had the plant growth significantly overweighing the mud-bed system. The cost-saving plus higher price of quality plastic cell tray vegetable seedlings contributed to net profitability of 66000 BDT (tomato), 86000 BDT (eggplant), 51000 BDT (sweet gourd), and 71000 BDT (cauliflower) for 50000 seedlings, respectively. Among the four vegetable plastic cell tray seedling production systems, the cost-effectiveness was higher with the eggplant seedlings production system. Thus, the plastic cell tray with coco-dust vegetable seedlings production system performed better than traditional mud-bed seedlings in Bangladesh that would confirm more profits with less sessional limitations.

Keywords: Containerized seedlings, Coco-dust, Mud-bed, Plastic cell tray, Profitability.

Location: Agrotechnology Discipline, Khulna University, Bangladesh

Start Date: 00-12-2019

End Date: 00-03-2020

Program Area: Crop-Soil-Water Management

Commodity: Land development productivity

Objectives:

This study is to identify a suitable containerized vegetable seedling production technique pertinent to Bangladesh and to assess the costs and benefits of using a containerized seedling system by partial budget analysis.

Methodology:

Production of containerized vegetable seedlings- The experiments were conducted at Professor Purnendu Gain field laboratory (89°34' E Longitudes and 22°47' N Latitude) of the Agrotechnology Discipline from December 1, 2019 to March 15, 2020. The experiments were laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD) with five replications. Each replication consisted of 20 plants. Different vegetables seedlings were produced using several different plastic containers like plastic cell trays (100- cells/tray) and individual containers such as one-time plastic cups large (6.0 cm 8.2 cm 14.2 cm) and small (6.0 cm 8.2 cm 12.3 cm). Locally available coco-dust was used as a growing media and it was sterilized before use in containers. Containerized seedlings performance was evaluated and compared with conventional bare-root seedlings, which was grown in a mud-bed. The performance of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) (BARI Tomato-19), eggplant (Solanum melongena) (BARI Begun-4), sweet gourd (Cucurbita pepo) (BARI Misti Kumra-2) and cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) (BARI Fulkopi-2) seedlings were evaluated. The vegetable seeds were collected from the Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Jashore, Bangladesh. Irrigation was applied using a watering can (5 liters) as 7 days interval to maintain proper moisture of the growing media and in the mud-bed. The manures and fertilizers that were used in the growing media as per suggested by Azad et al. (2017). The growing medium was observed every day and the number of germinated seeds was recorded. The number of surviving seedlings was assessed at 2 and 4 weeks after sowing and those data were used to calculate the percentage of vegetable seedlings survival. Plant vigor was assessed using a modification of the procedure reported in Monfort et al. (2007). A scale of 0 to 10 was used with 0 being dead plants and 10 being the most vigorous plants. The number of leaves per plant was counted at 4 weeks after transplanting. The plant height was measured using a measuring scale and stem diameter was measured using digital slide calipers, total biomass (root and shoot) were dried at 65ºC for 72 hours and dry weights were determined at 4 weeks after sowing. Partial budget analysis of containerized vegetable seedling production systems in Bangladesh- The cost of containers, coco-dust and intercultural operations (land preparation, watering, weeding uplifting and tying) according to market price were included for partial budgeting. A partial budget analysis was conducted summarizing the changes in revenue and expenses using the best-containerized seedling system in comparison with the mud-bed seedling production system. ?Statistical analysis- Recorded data were analyzed statistically using the GLM procedure of SAS and mean separation was done with Tukey-Kramer adjustment at p ≤ 0.05 (SAS software Version 9.4, SAS Institute Inc, Cary, NC). The graphs were illustrated using SigmaPlot 10.0 (SigmaPlot10.0, Systat Software Inc.).

Source of Information: International Journal of Biosciences; Vol. 17, No. 4, p. 144-153, 2020

Article Link (Online Journal): http://dx.doi.org/10.12692/ijb/17.4.144-153

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Growing media is important for vegetable seedlings production. Overall, the greater seedling growth was observed with a plastic cell tray compared to mud-bed seedlings. The total profitability of the plastic cell tray production system was elevated by 66000 BDT (tomato), 86000 BDT (eggplant), 51000 BDT (sweet gourd), and 71000 BDT (cauliflower), respectively for 50000 seedlings each compared to traditional mud- bed seedlings. Among the four vegetable seedling production system, the cost-effectiveness was higher with the eggplant seedlings production system. Thus, the plastic cell tray with a coco-dust seedling production system came up with a new hope for vegetable growers in Bangladesh that would ensure maximum economic returns.

Knowledge Management: Journal