No abstract

Municipal solid waste compost (MSWC) is considered as one of the prominent fertilizers that improve soil health and productivity. To evaluate the effects of MSWC on plant growth, an experiment was conducted by using sole MSWC and with a combination of inorganic fertilizer. The sole MSWC was applied at the rate of 0, 5, 10, 15 t ha-1. In case of MSWC with inorganic fertilizer, MSWC was applied equally (5 t ha-1) and phosphorus and potassium fertilizers were applied at 100 and 50 kg ha-1, respectively. Nitrogen was the only variable nutrient. Nitrogen was applied three different doses (25, 50 and 100 kg ha-1) along with control. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) was grown as experimental plant and maximum yield (72.7±6.3 t ha-1) of tomato was found when sole MSWC was applied at 15 t ha-1 and was significantly higher than other treatments. When MSWC was applied in combination with inorganic fertilizer, the combination 5 t ha-1 MSWC +100 kg N ha-1 +100 kg TSP ha-1 +50 kg MoP ha-1 produced maximum yield (79.0±3.2 t ha-1). So, application of sole MSWC in soil enhanced the productivity of soil and side by side, MSWC in combination with inorganic fertilizer reduced the volume of MSWC application.

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of some management practices to minimise jute yellow mosaic virus disease. The management practices were employed at natural condition and placed randomly with four replications. The treatments were spraying malathion 57 EC, rouging and field sanitation, top dressing of nitrogenous fertiliser, mulching with straw and untreated control. The highest percentage of mosaic incidence was recorded in control and the lowest incidence was recorded in top dressing of nitrogenous fertiliser. Among the treatments, top dressing of nitrogenous fertiliser showed the best performance in terms of increasing yield (3.05 t/ha). The second highest was obtained in rouging and field sanitation which was statistically similar to spraying malathion 57 EC. The best gross margin ($379.02/ha) and increase of gross margin (63.00%) compared to control were achieved in top dressing of nitrogenous fertiliser with the highest benefit-cost ratio (4.84). However, the treatments were found significantly profitable compared to the control indicating the usefulness of the cultural practices in integrated disease management programme for healthy and profitable jute cultivation.