Development of fertilizer recommendation for cabbage production in Low Ganges River Floodplain of Bangladesh

Abstract

The study was conducted during rabi season of 2013-14 and 2014-15 at the farmer’s field of Farming System Research and Development (FSRD) site, Hatgobindapur, Faridpur under On-Farm Research Division (OFRD), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) to evaluate the perfor- mance of chemical fertilizers for maximum yield of cabbage and higher eco- nomic return. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with five dispersed replications. The experiment consisted of eight treatments viz. N₂₄₂P₁₂₀K₃₃S₁₉Zn_1.4B_0.6 kg ha⁻¹ (100% NPKSZnB from Soil Test Based (STB) dose, T₁), T₁+25% N (T₂), T₁+25% NP (T₃), T₁+25% NK (T₄), T₁+25% PK (T₅), T₁+25% NPK (T₆), 75% of T₁ (T₇), and native nutrient (control, T₈). The treatment 100% NPKSZnB (soil test based) and additional 25% NPK (T6) treatment produced maximum head yield of cabbage (78.89 t ha−1) which was statistically identical with 100% soil test based NPKSZnB (T₁), 100% NPKSZnB with additional 25% N (T₂), 100% NPKSZnB with additional 25% NP (T₃) and 100% NPKSZnB with additional 25% NK (T₄) treatments. The lowest head yield (33.92 t ha⁻¹) was obtained from native nutrient (control). The highest gross margin (Tk 756,093 ha⁻¹) was obtained from T6 (100% NPKSZnB from STB with additional 25% NPK) followed by T₂ (T₁ with additional 25% N) and T₁ treatments. The results indicated that, the marginal rate of return (MRR) of changing from T₇ to T₁ was 1818% (for every Tk 100 of additional investment Tk 1,818 was obtained) and a changing from T₁ to T₂ gave MRR of 319%. From the experimental results, it was concluded that application of 100% chemical fertilizers of N₂₄₂P₁₂₀K₃₃S₁₉Zn_1.4B_0.6 kg ha⁻¹ from soil test based (T₁) would be suitable for higher yield and eco- nomic return of cabbage production in calcareous soil under Low Ganges River Floodplain (Agroecological Zone 12).