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

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 performance of chemical fertilizers for maximum yield of cabbage and higher economic return. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with five dispersed replications. The experiment consisted of eight treatments viz. N242P120K33S19Zn1.4B0.6 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 (STB) 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.756093.00 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. 1818 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 N242P120K33S19Zn1.4B0.6 kg ha-1 from STB (T1) would be suitable for higher yield and economic return of cabbage production in calcareous soil under Low Ganges River Floodplain (Agroecological Zone 12).