Soil test based with additional nutrients increased the fertility and productivity of wheat-mungbean-T. Aman rice cropping pattern in the High Ganges River Floodplain soils of Bangladesh

Mahbubur Rahman Khan, Mohammad Mohsin Ali, Celaleddin Barutcular, Akbar Hossain, Mohammad Habibur Rahman, Shilpi Das, Hakkı Akdeniz, Ayman EL Sabagh

Abstract: Wheat-mungbean-T. Aman rice (W-M-R) is one of the most dominant cropping patterns in the High Ganges River Floodplain Soils (HGR; AEZ-11) of Bangladesh. However, the average yield of wheat, mungbean and T. Aman rice in the HGR is low compared to the other parts of the country, due to the majority of farmers grow wheat in the same land after harvest of T. Aman rice. One of the major causes of poor yield may be application of fertilizers considering single crop rather than whole cropping pattern. By considering this important issue, an experiment was conducted to find out an optimum and economic fertilizer dose for wheat-mungbean-T. Aman rice cropping pattern at Atgharia, Pabna (AEZ-11) of Bangladesh during 2011-2012 and 2012-2013. The initial soil of the experimental field was chemically analyzed and fertilizer doses for each crop were calculated on yield goal basis as per fertilizer recommendation for the location specific soils. There were eight treatments combination: T1=100% NPK (STB - soil test-based nutrients management); T2=T1+25% N; T3=T1+25% NP; T4=T1+25% NK; T5=T1+25% PK; T6=T1+25% NPK; T7=75% of T1 and T8 = control (without fertilizers), where STB applied fertilizers for wheat (‘BARI Gom 26’) were 120-18-75-10-2-1 kg N-P-K-S-Zn-B ha-1; for mungbean (‘Binamoog-5’) were 18-18-30-10-0.5 kg N-P-K-S-B ha-1 and for T. Aman rice (‘Binadhan-7’) were 64-8-24-6 kg N-P-K-S ha-1. After two years of research, the maximum yield of wheat was obtained in T6 (T1+25% NPK) treatment which was statistically higher than other treatments except T3. While, both mungbean and T. Aman rice gave the maximum yield in treatment T3 (T1+25% NP) and the lowest was observed in control plot (T8). Considering the economic point of view, the maximum net benefit was obtained from T6 treatment (T1+25% NPK) followed by T3 (T1+25% NP) and the maximum MBCR was also obtained from T3 treatment. So, the fertilizer dose 150-23-94-10-2-1 kg N-P-K-S-Zn-B ha-1 for wheat, 23-23-30-10-0.5 kg N-P-K-S-B ha-1 for mungbean and 80-10-24-6 kg N-P-K-S ha-1 for T. Aman rice were recommended for higher yield and economic return for the W-M-R cropping pattern in HGR (AEZ-11) soil of Bangladesh.

Keywords: cropping pattern; mungbean; nutrient management; T. Aman rice; wheat

Date published: 2018-12-28