Bulb yield and storability of onions (cv. BARI Piaj-1) was studied against five levels of irrigation viz., no irrigation, irrigation at 10, 15, 20, and 30 days interval. Yield and storage losses were increased gradually with increasing number of irrigation. The highest yield of onion was obtained with a total of six irrigations at 10 days interval and it was at par with treatment that received four irrigations at 15 days intervals. Losses due to rotting, sprouting, and physiological weight loss were found higher in irrigated treatments. After six months of storage (from 1st week of April to 1st week of October), the maximum cumulative weight loss (56.72%) was recorded in onions irrigated at 10 days interval, while the minimum (46.80%) was recorded in non-irrigated onions. Keywords: Storability; onion bulb; irrigation; storage losses.DOI: 10.3329/bjar.v35i2.5887Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 35(2) : 247-255, June 2010

The experiment was carried out at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Jessore to evaluate the performance of different varieties of hybrid maize under intercropping systems with groundnut in rabi seasons to find out the suitable intercropping system in increasing crop productivity and profitability of consecutive two years (2004 and 2005). Four sole crops of hybrid maize varieties (BHM-1, BHM-3, Pacific-11 and Pacific-984), one sole crop of groundnut (var. Jhingabadam) and eight intercropping systems of maize + groundnut under two planting methods viz., normal and paired row made 13 treatments were used. Treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Among the intercropped treatments, four rows groundnut in between paired rows of hybrid maize var. Pacific-11 showed higher maize equivalent yield (13.56 t/ha in 2003-04 and 15.34 t/ha in 2004-05), groundnut equivalent yield (4.34 t/ha in 2003-04 and 4.91 t/ha in 2004-05), land equivalent ratio (1.54 in 2003-04 and 1.66 in 2004-05) as compared to other treatments. Key Words: Hybrid maize varieties; intercropping systems; groundnut. DOI: 10.3329/bjar.v34i4.5835Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 34(4) : 585-595, December 2009

The experiment was conducted at the experiment stations of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) at Joydebpur and Jamalpur during two consecutive seasons of November 2010 to June 2012 to find out the appropriate plant population of chili (var. Manikgonj local at Joydebpur and Jamalpur local at Jamalpur ) for intercropping with sweet gourd (var. BARI Sweet gourd 2) for higher productivity and economic return. The treatments were : T 1 = Sole sweet gourd (2.0 m x 2.0 m), T 2 =Sole chili (50 cm x 40 cm), T 3 = Sweet gourd (100%) + chili (100%), T 4 = Sweet gourd (100%) + chili (60%), T 5 = Sweet gourd (100%) +chili (50%) and T 6 = Sweet gourd (100%) + Chili (40%). Averaged over the years, fruit yield of sweet gourd was reduced significantly when intercropping with more than 50% chili. Intercropping sweet gourd with chili combination (100%) + chili (40%) gave the highest sweet gourd equivalent yield (35.74 t/ha and 17.95 t/ha), gross return (Tk. 357400/ha and Tk. 179500/ha), gross margin (Tk. 274346/ha and Tk.124600/ha) and benefit cost ratio (4.30 and 3.27), respectively at Joydebpur and Jamalpur. The maximum land equivalent ratio (1.52 at Joydebpur and 1.56 at Jamalpur) was also obtained from sweet gourd (100%) + chili (40%) intercropping system. The results revealed that 40% chili population (20,000/ha) might be optimum for intercropping with sweet gourd (100%) for higher productivity and economic return.

The experiment was carried out at the Regional Agricultural Research Station, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Jessore to evaluate the performance of different varieties of hybrid maize under intercropping systems with groundnut in Rabi seasons for higher productivity and profitability. Four sole crops of hybrid maize varieties viz., BHM-1, BHM-3, Pacific-11, and Pacific-984, one sole crop of groundnut (var. Jhingabadam) and eight intercropping systems of maize + groundnut under two planting methods viz., normal and paired row made 13 treatments, were used for two consecutive years (2004 and 2005). Treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Among the intercropped treatments, four rows groundnut in between paired rows of hybrid maize var. Pacific 11 showed higher total dry mater (TDM), leaf area index (LAI), crop growth rate (CGR), gross return, net return and benefit cost ratio (BCR) than the other planting systems tested in the experiment.

Charland that are emerged as islands within the river channel or as attached land to the riverbanks as a result of erosion and accretion. In crop production systems, screening of adaptable crop varieties for charland is necessary to address the climate change issues. Hence, five separate experiments were conducted at charland of the Padma River in Kushtia district during November 2012 to May 2013 to select suitable varieties of lentil, hybrid maize, soybean, potato and mustard for increasing crop productivity. The experiment comprised of four lentil varieties viz. BARI Masur-4, BARI Masur-5, BARI Masur-6 and a local cultivar; four hybrid maize varieties namely BARI Hybrid maize-5, BARI Hybrid maize-7, BARI Hybrid maize-9 and Pacific-11; three soybean varieties like BARI Soybean-5, BARI Soybean-6 and Shohag; four potato varieties viz., BARI Alu-7, BARI Alu-8, BARI Alu-31 and Belgium; and five mustard varieties viz., BARI Sarisha-11, BARI Sarisha-13, BARI Sarisha-14, BARI Sarisha-15 and BARI Sarisha-16 were evaluated separately in five trials for their adaptation in charland. Among the studied crops, lentil var. BARI Masur-6, maize var. BARI Hybrid maize-9, soybean var. BARI Soybean-6, potato var. BARI Alu-7 and mustard var. BARI Sarisha-11performed better in the charland under climate change situation in Bangladesh.Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 40(4): 629-640, December 2015