Status of Dhaincha incorporated soil after rice harvest in (Boro) rice–Dhaincha–rice (T. Aman) cropping pattern

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at Field Laboratory of the Department of Crop Botany, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, to find out the effect of dhaincha incorporation on subsequent rice crop yield and postharvest soil nutrient status. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design having three replications. Nine dhaincha accessions were used as experimental materials along with a control (without dhaincha plant). Seeds of dhaincha accessions were sown in experimental plot @ 60 kg ha-1. Sixty days old dhaincha plants were mixed up with soil. Soil samples were collected twice, before sowing of dhaincha seeds and after rice crop harvest. Forty five days old healthy rice seedlings were transplanted in the well prepared dhaincha incorporated plots at the spacing of 15 cm x 25 cm (plant-plant x row-row). The pH and nutrient status were improved in dhaincha incorporated soil over the control. The highest grain yield (5.81 t ha-1) was obtained from dhaincha Acc. 33 incorporated plot followed by Acc. 25 (5.73 t ha-1) and the lowest in control (4.35 t ha-1). Due to the incorporation of dhaincha biomass in soil, the rice grain yield increased 7.82% to 33.56% over the control. Among the dhaincha accessions, number 33 showed the best performance in terms of influencing grain yield. A precise conclusion to be built up through collection of large number of germplasms from Bangladesh is needed.