Comparative Effects of Biogas Plant Residues, Poultry Manure and Inorganic Fertilizer on Growth and Yield of Ladies Finger

A field experiment was conducted in the crop field of the Department of Soil Science, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh to study the effects of biogas plant residues, poultry manure and NPK fertilizer on growth and yield of ladies finger (Abelmoschus esculentus L Moench). There were six treatments - control (no fertilizer/poultry manure/compost), full NPK @ 120 kg N ha -1 , 60 kg P ha -1 and 80 kg K ha -1 , full biogas plant residues(BPR) @ 30 ton ha -1 , 50% NPK+ 50% BPR, full poultry manure (PM) @ 30 ton ha -1 , 50% NPK+ 50% PM. The treatments were arranged in randomized block design with three replications. The data collected were number of leaves, plant height, fruit length, fruit circumference, number of fruits and fruit yield. The results showed that full NPK fertilizer did not significantly increase the growth and yield of ladies finger over control. Compared to control addition of full poultry manure and its combination with NPK fertilizer resulted in 6.28 to 7.29 fold increases in yield. Relatively lower yields (0.34-0.17 fold) were obtained in treatments with biogas plant residues compared to treatments with poultry manure. Our result indicate that poultry manure can be used in combination with the application of inorganic fertilizers for better growth and yield of ladies finger in the valley soils of Chittagong.