Direct-seeded rice (DSR) seeds are often exposed to multiple environmental stresses in the field,... more Direct-seeded rice (DSR) seeds are often exposed to multiple environmental stresses in the field, leading to poor emergence, growth and productivity. Appropriate seed priming agents may help to overcome these challenges by ensuring uniform seed germination, and better seedling stand establishment. To examine the effectiveness of sodium selenite (Na-selenite), sodium selenate (Na-selenate), zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs), and their combinations as priming agents for DSR seeds, a controlled pot experiment followed by a field experiment over two consecutive years was conducted on a sandy clay loam soil (Inceptisol) in West Bengal, India. Priming with combinations of all priming agents had advantages over the hydro-priming treatment (control). All the combinations of the three priming agents resulted in the early emergence of seedlings with improved vigour. In the field experiment, all the combinations increased the plant chlorophyll, phenol and protein contents, leaf area index and...
Inherently poor soil fertility and non-adoption of fertilizer recommendations based on soil test ... more Inherently poor soil fertility and non-adoption of fertilizer recommendations based on soil test and yield targets by farmers limit the productivity and profitability from monsoon rice in Bangladesh and much of South Asia. In the Level Barind Tract (LBT; AEZ-25) and the High Ganges River Floodplain (HGR; AEZ-11) agro-ecological zones (AEZs) of Bangladesh, monsoon (aman/kharif) season transplanted rainfed rice (known as T. aman rice) is grown in large areas after maize, wheat and/or mungbeans, with residues of each crop removed from the field after grain harvest. This results in lower grain yield and lower profits in these AEZs as compared with other AEZs. Nutrient management, based on soil test, yield targets, or integrated use of inorganics and organics for each AEZ together with retention of crop residue, has the potential to increase rice yield, reduce production cost and increase income. With this hypothesis, this study was conducted to determine the optimum nutrient management ...
It is important to identify and develop stable wheat varieties that can grow under heat stress. T... more It is important to identify and develop stable wheat varieties that can grow under heat stress. This important issue was addressed in Bangladesh using six wheat genotypes, including three existing elite cultivars (‘BARI Gom 26’, ‘BARI Gom 27’, ‘BARI Gom 28’) and three advanced lines (‘BAW 1130’, ‘BAW 1138’, ‘BAW 1140’). Six sowing dates, namely early sowing (ES) (10 November), optimum sowing (OS) (20 November), slightly late sowing (SLS) (30 November), late sowing (LS) (10 December), very late sowing (VLS) (20 December) and extremely late sowing (ELS) (30 December) were assessed over two years in four locations, representative of the diversity in Bangladesh’s agro-ecological zones. In a split plot design, sowing dates were allocated as main plots and genotypes as subplots. A GGE biplot analysis was applied to identify heat tolerance and to select and recommend genotypes for cultivation in heat-prone zones. All tested genotypes gave greatest grain yield (GY) after OS, followed by SLS...
A field experiment was conducted at the Integrated Research Farm of Himalayan College of Agricult... more A field experiment was conducted at the Integrated Research Farm of Himalayan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (HICAST) at Bandegaon, Lalitpur, Nepal during 2009 to scrutinize the effect of Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) on the growth, yield and soil nutrient status to tomato (Lycopersicon lycopersicum (L.) Karsten). Following a randomized complete block design, 9 treatments with 3 replications were maintained. The study revealed that the integration of organic manures in combination with inorganic fertilizers was found significant in improving the overall plant growth, yield and soil macro nutrient status than the sole application of either of these nutrients. Maximum plant height and number of leaves per plant were observed with treatment 16.66 mt/ha FYM + 8.33 mt/ha Vermicompost + NPK. The earlier of days to 50% flowering was observed in treatment 20 mt/ha FYM. Highest number of fruit clusters, maximum fruit weight and fruit yield (25.74 mt/ha) were recorded ...
Nitrogen (N) nutrition of the rice-wheat (RW) systems of the Indo-Gangetic Plain is important for... more Nitrogen (N) nutrition of the rice-wheat (RW) systems of the Indo-Gangetic Plain is important for sustaining the region's productivity and food needs. Soil N plays an important role in regulating the supply of N to plants. Monitoring plant concentrations, uptake, and balance of N assist in our understanding of plant and soil N status and in devising N-fertilizer strategies for
Ginger yields in the NorthEastern region of India are low because the extremely poor farmers of t... more Ginger yields in the NorthEastern region of India are low because the extremely poor farmers of the region can not afford to apply any chemical fertilizers and hence apply only the locally-available farmyard manures to ginger fields. Biofertilizers may be a cheap source of fertilizers for ginger cultivation as they can increase nutrient availability and improve rhizome quality and are required in small quantity. An investigation was thus undertaken to study the effect of different biofertilizers on growth, productivity, quality and economics of organic ginger grown under rainfed condition in NorthEastern region of India. Seed treatment with biofertilizers enhanced growth, increased rhizome yield by 19.0% and resulted in 32.4% higher net profit over control. Among the seed treatments, Azotobacter 5.0 kg ha -1 , Azospirillum 3.75 kg ha -1 and Phosphotica 3.75 kg ha -1 were found optimum in improving most of the growth attributes, increasing yield components and yield of rhizome by 5.6...
This study was conducted to design, construct, and test a two-wheeled power tiller multi-row weed... more This study was conducted to design, construct, and test a two-wheeled power tiller multi-row weeder (MRW) for effective weed control in wheat production field and other narrow-row crops. This concept was conceived from the high cost and labour-intensive methods required for hand weeding (HW) and the restrictions in chemical weed control borne by the resource-poor smallholder farmers of South Asia. An MRW was designed, fabricated, and field tested with other weeding techniques (HW using khurpi, HW using a hand spade, weeding using a Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) dry land weeder, and no weeding) at the Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process Engineering Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute BARI centre in Gazipur during 2013–2014 and 2014–2015 wheat growing seasons. The results have shown that the MRW had a higher percentage of plant damage (4.3–4.6%) but also higher actual field capacity (0.12–0.14 ha/h), resulting in lower weeding cost than other we...
Economic analysis of different diversified rotational cropping systems under Farmers' package... more Economic analysis of different diversified rotational cropping systems under Farmers' package/practices and improved package/practices was conducted in Birbhum district, West Bengal, located in the red and lateritic belt of lower Gangetic plain of eastern India. Diversified triple cropping systems (peanut-brinjal+brinjal, rice-potato-pumpkin, and cucumber-cabbage-basella) required higher cost for cultivation, but also produced higher rice equivalent yield, higher net return and higher return rupee -1 invested in both management practices. Considering the resource-ability and risk-bearing capacity, and net return and return rupee -1 (RPR) invested, these cropping systems can be recommended for resource-rich farmers. Rice-rapeseed-cowpea, rice-wheat-green gram and radish-tomato-amaranthus systems required less inputs for cultivation, were less risky, and economically viable and profitable. These cropping systems can be recommended for resource-poor farmers. Peanut-brinjal + brinja...
Direct-seeded rice (DSR) seeds are often exposed to multiple environmental stresses in the field,... more Direct-seeded rice (DSR) seeds are often exposed to multiple environmental stresses in the field, leading to poor emergence, growth and productivity. Appropriate seed priming agents may help to overcome these challenges by ensuring uniform seed germination, and better seedling stand establishment. To examine the effectiveness of sodium selenite (Na-selenite), sodium selenate (Na-selenate), zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs), and their combinations as priming agents for DSR seeds, a controlled pot experiment followed by a field experiment over two consecutive years was conducted on a sandy clay loam soil (Inceptisol) in West Bengal, India. Priming with combinations of all priming agents had advantages over the hydro-priming treatment (control). All the combinations of the three priming agents resulted in the early emergence of seedlings with improved vigour. In the field experiment, all the combinations increased the plant chlorophyll, phenol and protein contents, leaf area index and...
Inherently poor soil fertility and non-adoption of fertilizer recommendations based on soil test ... more Inherently poor soil fertility and non-adoption of fertilizer recommendations based on soil test and yield targets by farmers limit the productivity and profitability from monsoon rice in Bangladesh and much of South Asia. In the Level Barind Tract (LBT; AEZ-25) and the High Ganges River Floodplain (HGR; AEZ-11) agro-ecological zones (AEZs) of Bangladesh, monsoon (aman/kharif) season transplanted rainfed rice (known as T. aman rice) is grown in large areas after maize, wheat and/or mungbeans, with residues of each crop removed from the field after grain harvest. This results in lower grain yield and lower profits in these AEZs as compared with other AEZs. Nutrient management, based on soil test, yield targets, or integrated use of inorganics and organics for each AEZ together with retention of crop residue, has the potential to increase rice yield, reduce production cost and increase income. With this hypothesis, this study was conducted to determine the optimum nutrient management ...
It is important to identify and develop stable wheat varieties that can grow under heat stress. T... more It is important to identify and develop stable wheat varieties that can grow under heat stress. This important issue was addressed in Bangladesh using six wheat genotypes, including three existing elite cultivars (‘BARI Gom 26’, ‘BARI Gom 27’, ‘BARI Gom 28’) and three advanced lines (‘BAW 1130’, ‘BAW 1138’, ‘BAW 1140’). Six sowing dates, namely early sowing (ES) (10 November), optimum sowing (OS) (20 November), slightly late sowing (SLS) (30 November), late sowing (LS) (10 December), very late sowing (VLS) (20 December) and extremely late sowing (ELS) (30 December) were assessed over two years in four locations, representative of the diversity in Bangladesh’s agro-ecological zones. In a split plot design, sowing dates were allocated as main plots and genotypes as subplots. A GGE biplot analysis was applied to identify heat tolerance and to select and recommend genotypes for cultivation in heat-prone zones. All tested genotypes gave greatest grain yield (GY) after OS, followed by SLS...
A field experiment was conducted at the Integrated Research Farm of Himalayan College of Agricult... more A field experiment was conducted at the Integrated Research Farm of Himalayan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (HICAST) at Bandegaon, Lalitpur, Nepal during 2009 to scrutinize the effect of Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) on the growth, yield and soil nutrient status to tomato (Lycopersicon lycopersicum (L.) Karsten). Following a randomized complete block design, 9 treatments with 3 replications were maintained. The study revealed that the integration of organic manures in combination with inorganic fertilizers was found significant in improving the overall plant growth, yield and soil macro nutrient status than the sole application of either of these nutrients. Maximum plant height and number of leaves per plant were observed with treatment 16.66 mt/ha FYM + 8.33 mt/ha Vermicompost + NPK. The earlier of days to 50% flowering was observed in treatment 20 mt/ha FYM. Highest number of fruit clusters, maximum fruit weight and fruit yield (25.74 mt/ha) were recorded ...
Nitrogen (N) nutrition of the rice-wheat (RW) systems of the Indo-Gangetic Plain is important for... more Nitrogen (N) nutrition of the rice-wheat (RW) systems of the Indo-Gangetic Plain is important for sustaining the region's productivity and food needs. Soil N plays an important role in regulating the supply of N to plants. Monitoring plant concentrations, uptake, and balance of N assist in our understanding of plant and soil N status and in devising N-fertilizer strategies for
Ginger yields in the NorthEastern region of India are low because the extremely poor farmers of t... more Ginger yields in the NorthEastern region of India are low because the extremely poor farmers of the region can not afford to apply any chemical fertilizers and hence apply only the locally-available farmyard manures to ginger fields. Biofertilizers may be a cheap source of fertilizers for ginger cultivation as they can increase nutrient availability and improve rhizome quality and are required in small quantity. An investigation was thus undertaken to study the effect of different biofertilizers on growth, productivity, quality and economics of organic ginger grown under rainfed condition in NorthEastern region of India. Seed treatment with biofertilizers enhanced growth, increased rhizome yield by 19.0% and resulted in 32.4% higher net profit over control. Among the seed treatments, Azotobacter 5.0 kg ha -1 , Azospirillum 3.75 kg ha -1 and Phosphotica 3.75 kg ha -1 were found optimum in improving most of the growth attributes, increasing yield components and yield of rhizome by 5.6...
This study was conducted to design, construct, and test a two-wheeled power tiller multi-row weed... more This study was conducted to design, construct, and test a two-wheeled power tiller multi-row weeder (MRW) for effective weed control in wheat production field and other narrow-row crops. This concept was conceived from the high cost and labour-intensive methods required for hand weeding (HW) and the restrictions in chemical weed control borne by the resource-poor smallholder farmers of South Asia. An MRW was designed, fabricated, and field tested with other weeding techniques (HW using khurpi, HW using a hand spade, weeding using a Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) dry land weeder, and no weeding) at the Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process Engineering Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute BARI centre in Gazipur during 2013–2014 and 2014–2015 wheat growing seasons. The results have shown that the MRW had a higher percentage of plant damage (4.3–4.6%) but also higher actual field capacity (0.12–0.14 ha/h), resulting in lower weeding cost than other we...
Economic analysis of different diversified rotational cropping systems under Farmers' package... more Economic analysis of different diversified rotational cropping systems under Farmers' package/practices and improved package/practices was conducted in Birbhum district, West Bengal, located in the red and lateritic belt of lower Gangetic plain of eastern India. Diversified triple cropping systems (peanut-brinjal+brinjal, rice-potato-pumpkin, and cucumber-cabbage-basella) required higher cost for cultivation, but also produced higher rice equivalent yield, higher net return and higher return rupee -1 invested in both management practices. Considering the resource-ability and risk-bearing capacity, and net return and return rupee -1 (RPR) invested, these cropping systems can be recommended for resource-rich farmers. Rice-rapeseed-cowpea, rice-wheat-green gram and radish-tomato-amaranthus systems required less inputs for cultivation, were less risky, and economically viable and profitable. These cropping systems can be recommended for resource-poor farmers. Peanut-brinjal + brinja...
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