Effect of integrated nutrient management on leaf yield and quality of bay leaf

Abstract

Two field experiments were conducted during two successive years of 2019-20 and 2020-21, to study the response of integrated nutrient management (INM) on leaf quality and yield of bay leaf at experimental bay leaf garden of Regional Spices Research Centre, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur. The experiment comprised five nutrient management packages following the INM principle. They are T1= 220-70-150-40-5-3 g tree^-1 year^-1 of N-P-K-S-Zn-B, T2 = 165-70-150-40-5-3 g N-P-K-S-Zn-B + 7 kg cowdung tree^-1 year^-1 , T3 = 165-70-150-40-5-3 g N-P-K-S-Zn-B + 4 kg vermicompost tree^-1 year^-1, T4 = 165-70-150-40-5-3 g N-P-K-S-Zn-B + 4 kg mustard oil cake tree^-1 year^-1 and T5 = Control (native fertility). The growth parameters of bay leaf were significantly affected by the different integrated nutrient management packages. The maximum annual increment of plant height (23.0 and 25.88 cm), the tallest plant (3.99 and 4.63 m), annual shoot growth (15.16 and 21.0 cm), leaf area (19.23 and 31.33 cm²), number of leaves per feet of shoot (18.17 and 19.33), leaf dry weight (1.47 and 1.73 g) and leaf yield (7.70 and 8.53 kg tree^-1) in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, respectively, were recorded from the application of nutrients @ 165-70-150-40-5-3g N-P-K-S-Zn-B with 4 kg mustard oil cake tree^-1 year^-1. The application of nutrients @ 165-70-150-40-5-3g N-P-K-S-Zn-B with 4 kg mustard oil cake tree^-1 year^-1 might be recommended as the best suitable nutrient management packages for bay leaf cultivation in Grey Terrace Soil of Madhupur tract (AEZ-28).

Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 49(2): 167-173, June 2024