Md. Ahsanul Kabir*
Biotechnology Division, Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, Savar, Dhaka-1341, Bangladesh
Md Rezaul Hai Rakib
Training, Planning and Technology Testing Division, Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, Savar, Dhaka-1341, Bangladesh;
Md. Ruhul Amin
Buffalo Development and Conservation Project, Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, Savar, Dhaka-1341, Bangladesh
S. M. Jahangir Hossain
Biotechnology Division, Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, Savar, Dhaka-1341, Bangladesh
Sardar Muhammad Amanullah
Training, Planning and Technology Testing Division, Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, Savar, Dhaka-1341, Bangladesh;
Gautam Kumar Deb
Biotechnology Division, Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, Savar, Dhaka-1341, Bangladesh
Nani Gopal Das
Animal production research division, Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, Savar, Dhaka-1341, Bangladesh.
Hydroponic, Maize, Blackgram, Harvesting time, Leguminous
In plant and nutrition laboratory of Biotechnology Division, Bangladesh Livestock Research Institution, Savar, Dhaka- 1341, Bangladesh.
Comparative study
This study was conducted in plant and nutrition laboratory of Biotechnology Division, Bangladesh Livestock Research Institution, Savar, Dhaka- 1341, Bangladesh. A locally made hydroponic system including metal frame and two standing shelves, artificial light with thermometer and hygrometer facility was used in this experiment. Each shelf contained four racks and each rack was able to hold 3 plastic trays and the size of the tray was 2.52 sq. feet. To keep moisture condition manual hand sprayer was used. The average temperature and relative humidity of the room were 21.40oC and 77.07% respectively.
Plant material: Two types of fodder crops were evaluated in this study which was maize (Zia maize) and BG (Vigna mungo). Moreover, in maize two verity was used one was local verity (Non-descriptive), used for cultivation of maize fodder and another was hybrid verity (Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation- BADC Hybreed maize). All seeds of these crops were obtained from the local market of Dhaka. Before conducting this experiment germination test was conducted for determining the viability of the seed. The result of viability was 79%, 84% and 80% for LM, HM and BG respectively.
Treatment of seeds: Seeds of all crops were separated from debris and other foreign materials. Then the cleaned seeds were sun-dried for 12 hours and subsequently soaked for 30 minutes in a 2% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) solution to control the formation of mould (Shit, 2019). Planting trays were also cleaned and disinfected using chlorine solution.
Seed planting and irrigation: The seeds were washed well and placed into the planting tray lined with plastic sheets and had holes at the bottom to allow drainage of excess water from irrigation. In each tray seeding rates were 2 kg/tray. Subsequently, the clean white moist cloth was used for 24 hours on the germination tray for proper germination of seed. To maintain moist condition, 500ml water/tray/day was sprayed twice a day using a manual hand sprayer.
Proximate analysis: The chemical composition of dry fodder samples was determined according to the standard methods of AOAC (2005). DM and Ash were determined by drying in an oven for 24 hours at 80ºC and ashing samples in a muffle furnace at 500ºC for 24 hr, respectively. CP was determined using a Foss Tecator Kjeltec 2300 Nitrogen/Protein Analyzer. EE was analyzed by Soxhlet extraction of the dry sample using petroleum ether. ADF was determined using cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and 1N H2SO4. NDF was determined using sodium sulphite and sodium lauryl sulphates. CF was analyzed by FOSS Fibertec system according to Weende van Soest method.
Measuring root and shout length and biomass production The root and shoot length of experimental hydroponic green fodders were measured using a meter scale on harvesting day. The individual plant was carefully removed from the sprout mat for measurement. The root length was measured from the cuticle to the tip of the longest root segment and the shoot length was measured from the base of the hypocotyls to the tip of the longest leaf. Moreover, for the measurement of biomass production, a 40 kg measuring balance was used. Biomass production was measured on harvesting day.
Experimental design and statics A completely randomized design with four replicates was used in this study. Local maize was considered as control and the pairwise comparison based on the estimated marginal mean of LM with HM and BG was conducted for determining the best type for hydroponic fodder production. Moreover, to determine the comparative feature of biomass yield, root and shoot length, one-way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the same software was used. Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) of the same software, was used to compare means that were found to be statistically different (Duncan, 2013). The significant difference was tested at a 5% probability level. Moreover, to investigate the impact of day on the proximate component of hydroponic fodder correlation between day and nutritional composition of fodder was determine by using bivariate correlation of the same software. Finally, considering the highest CP content best harvesting time was determined.
Res. Agric. Livest. Fish. Vol. 8, No. 3, December 2021: 321-328.
Journal