Physiological attributes of mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) influenced by different sources of nutrients (NPK) in Madhupur tract region of Bangladesh

An experiment was conducted at the Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University farm from April to June 2017 in Kharif season to evaluate the performance of two mungbean varieties under different NPK fertilizers doses in field conditions. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD), comprising six treatments with three replications. In the experiment, varieties used were BARI mung-6 and BARI mung-5 and the combination of the treatment were T0 = (control), T1 (10-40-25 NPK kg ha-1), T2 (10-60-45 NPK kg ha-1), T3 (20-50-35 NPK kg ha-1), T4 (30-40-25 NPK kg ha-1) and T5 (30-40-45 NPK kg ha-1), respectively. Mungbean cultivars responded noticeably to the supplementary NPK fertilizers as the crop characters were significantly influenced by different levels of NPK fertilizers. Data were recorded on plant height, leaves plant-1, branches plant-1, pods plant-1, seeds pod-1, 1000-seed weight, seed, and straw yield at different days after sowing. Of the two varieties, BARI mung-6 gave the highest seed yield (1.72 t ha-1) next to the higher plant growth and straw yield On the contrary, BARI mung-5 cultivar produced the lowest seed yield (1.57t ha-1), plant growth, and straw yield. The results showed that T3 (20-50-35 NPK kg ha-1) treatment was the best treatment as regards plant growth and yield parameters. The highest seed yield was produced by treated plot T3 (20-50-35 NPK kg ha-1) over the untreated control plot, T1, T2, T4, and T5, respectively. As for the combined effect, V1T3 (BARI mung-6 and T3 = 20kg N + 50kg P + 35kg K ha-1) performed the best results in all growth and development characters. Therefore, the combined application of 20-50-35 kg NPK ha-1 might be considered to be found optimal to get a considerable seed yield of mungbean variety BARI mung-6.

Development of a low-cost ice crusher for raw fish storage

The fisheries sector in Bangladesh undergoes various post-harvest problems: the high post-harvest loss of fish. As fish is highly perishable, it needs proper handling, processing, and distribution in time. Ice is the major and primary material that is used in Bangladesh for fish preservation. Different methods are used for crushing ice. In the traditional method, ice is crushed with a heavy load by hand. This method is very laborious and most often does not provide a uniform shape. So, an attempt was taken to develop a low-cost ice crusher machine in the Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh. Based on the design and drawing, the machine was manufactured. Necessary materials to construct the machine were collected from the local market. The machine throughput capacity of the developed ice crusher was found 854.85 kg/hr. with an overall loss of 10.5%. Based on the test parameters, the machine performance was found satisfactory. The machine construction cost was estimated as Tk 11048. The operating cost for ice crushing was calculated, and it was found to be Tk 0.07/kg. This machine was simple at construction and the cost is also low, which indicates that the machine is suitable input for ice crushing to the marginal user. Where electricity is not available and large commercial heavy ice crushers are not available, this machine can be very suitable.

Effect of available solar irradiance on vertical farming in semi-open urban places

Building a vertical farm in unused residential and commercial spaces is a challenge. It is particularly hard to decide upon a space where varying degrees of lighting conditions may prevail at different times of a day. This experiment was focused on how innovative micro-irrigation technology could be coupled with vertical farms. In this regard, three storied racks were designed to accommodate multiple one-feet-square tubs large enough to hold five Indian spinach (BARI Puishak- 2) plants at a time. Sandy loam soil was used for farming along with recommended doses of fertilizers. Different lighting conditions (2- 145 W/m2 average solar irradiance) were employed on the fifth floor of an urban building. Drip emitters were coupled in the system for irrigation. The management allowed deficit was kept to a maximum of 50% of the readily available moisture below the field capacity. The results suggested that drip irrigation systems provide higher water productivity (up to 31.82 kg/m3) compared to the in-field conditions when BARI Puishak-2 is grown in vertical farming. Water productivity of spinach was improved by optimized set-up of a drip irrigation system. The study also concluded that vertical farming is only suitable for indoor places where plenty of direct sunlight or diffused sunlight (not below 70 W/m2) is available. The economic analysis suggests that vertical farms under direct sunlight can be made profitable (BCR>1) in the long run.

Impact of organic substance on growth attributes of mat type rice seedlings in the trays for machine transplanting

Rice seedling for mechanical transplanting must fulfill the prerequisites of guideline seedling block with uniform density of seedlings and between bending pulls for rolling. The present study was carried out at the Farm Power and Machinery Department, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet during Boro season/2018-19 with the objective to assess the impact of organic substance on agronomic attributes of mat type rice seedling. The seedling was raised on plastic rigid tray utilizing sandy clay loam (SCL) and sandy clay (SC) soil blending with the organic fertilizer of cow-dung (CD), rice bran (RB), rice husk (RH) and tea wastage (TW) at the rate of 0.0, 5, 10, 15 and 20%, respectively. Averaged across the rate of soil mixture, 5 to 15% of CD and RB with the both types of soil gave higher seedling height, leaf length and stem length while 20% of CD and TW also showed better result for number of leaves and stem thickness. Considering all parameters, 15 to 20% rice husk and tea wastage mixed with the sandy clay loam soil and 10 to 15% with the sandy loam soil gave good result. Be that as it may, seedling quality differed among the natural composts with the two kinds of soil more or less like CD > RB > TW > RH. Water requirement in the SC soil was more compared to SCL soil. It was observed that crack was formed on the sandy clay soil in tray. For both types of soil, the density of seeds in the mat at the rate of 6-7 seeds cm-2 was found at 80% of soil mixture along with rice bran. The findings of the study could be promoted widely in farmer’s field to raise better quality of mat type seedling for better performance of the mechanical rice transplanter which ultimately leads to getting better rice yield.

Importance of intercropping for biodiversity conservation

Traditional there are two strategies to handle pest problems in crop production, either dependence on non-chemical agricultural practices (such as cultural, mechanical, biological practices etc.) or reliance on existing natural pest control mechanisms. Intercropping is a cultural non-chemical agricultural practice where two or more crops are grown on the same field in a year with different cropping patterns. In this multiple cropping system, biodiversity and pest suppression are increased. Biodiversity can restore the natural elements of agro ecosystem because almost all favorable elements of natural enemies are available in diversified agro ecosystem. Energy intensive modern technology in agriculture is one of the vital causes for loss of biodiversity. In intercropping system biological pest control method can be ensured with higher level of crop diversity instead of energy intensive agriculture. Intercropping provides different benefits on pest management with two available hypotheses or mechanism. One of the hypotheses is the ‘resource concentration hypothesis’ and another is the ‘natural enemies hypothesis’. Intercropping, directly and indirectly, influences to increase biodiversity which results in reduction of pest densities in crop fields. As a result, less expense for use of pesticide is required and finally higher yield also add some financial benefits. Intercropping system utilizes inherent ability of plant to protect pests. Therefore further knowledge about genotypic crop diversity, diversity of natural enemies, chemically-mediated mechanisms of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) will be effective for further improvement of intercropping system for greater benefits.