Effect of different doses of Ipil-Ipil (Leucaena leucocephala) (LAM.) de wit. tree green leaf biomass on rice yield and soil chemical properties

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to find out the effect of different doses of ipil-ipil (Leucaena leucocephala ) (Lam.) de Wit. tree green leaf biomass on rice yield and soil chemical properties. Four different treatments such as T0: Recommended fertilizer dose (Urea 195 kg/ha, TSP 50 kg/ha, MOP 142 kg/ha, Gypsum 75 kg/ha and Zinc Sulphate 4 kg/ha), T₁: 5 t/ha, T₂: 7.5 t/ha, and T₃: 10 t/ha ipil-ipil tree green leaf was used in this study in a Randomized complete block design with three replications. The results showed that the treatment T₃ was performed better than recommended fertilizer dose in case all yield contributing characters of rice except grain yield. The highest (5.29 t/ha) rice grain yield was obtained in recommended fertilizer dose followed by 10 t/ha, 7.5 t/ha and 5 t/ha ipil-ipil tree green leaf biomass amendment having 4.80, 3.16 and 2.36 t/ha respectively. The highest grain yield that was obtained from recommended fertilizer dose was 10.21% higher compared to the highest dose (10 t/ha) of ipil-ipil tree green leaf biomass. It was mentioned that among the different doses of ipil-ipil tree green leaf biomass 10 t/ha performed the best over others. The ipil-ipil tree green leaf biomass was also significantly influenced on some essential nutrient status which is very important for rice production. The highest amount of total N, available P, exchangeable K and available S were found in the treatment T₃ and the lowest in the treatment T₁. Therefore, it can be concluded that the ipil-ipil tree leaf has beneficial effects and could be combined with inorganic fertilizer for sustainable crop yield and maintaining soil fertility.

Res. Agric., Livest. Fish.2(3): 385-394, December 2015