Performance of wheat cultivars as understory crop of multipurpose trees in taungya system.
Hossain M. M., Hossain K. L., Miah M. M. U., Hossain M. A.
Author Affiliation: Department of Agroforestry, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh.
Journal of Biological Sciences 6 : 992-998
Abstract : A field experiment was conducted from November 2005 to March 2006, in Dinajpur, Bangladesh, to evaluate the performance of wheat cultivars (Gourove, Sourove, Kanchan and Protiva) as understorey crops of different multipurpose tree species (Albizia lebbeck, Psidium guajava and Mangifera indica). All the tree species were statistically indifferent in their effect on wheat grain yield. However, the highest wheat grain yield (2.60 t ha-1) was found under A. lebbeck, followed by M. indica (2.58 t ha-1) and P. guajava (2.53 t ha-1). The tree species at their early stages of growth had very little impact on the associated wheat crop, except that crops grown in close proximity with tree lines suffered around 11-13% yield reduction. Among the wheat cultivars, Shotabdi produced the highest grain yield (2.88 t ha-1) and total dry matter, followed by Gourove and Shourove. Therefore, it can be suggested that farmers in the northern region of Bangladesh may cultivate Shotabdi as an understorey crop of A. lebbeck during its early years of establishment.