A field trial was conducted at the Regional Wheat Research Centre of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Rajshahi to study the comparative agronomic performance and economic return of four crops based cropping patterns. The cropping patterns were as follows: CP1= Transplanted Aman rice (cv. Binadhan-7)–Mustard (cv. BARI Sarisha14)–Boro rice (cv. BRRI dhan28) – Transplanted Aus rice (cv. Parija); CP2= T. Aman rice–Potato (cv. Diamont)–Boro rice–T.Aus rice; CP3=T. Aman rice–Mustard (cv. BARI Sarisha15)–Mungbean (cv. BARI Mung 6) –T. Aus rice and CP4 = T. Aman rice–Fallow–Boro rice–Fallow (Control). The results showed that four crops could be grown successfully one after another in a sequence in the field with three crops patterns.  The highest rice equivalent yield (REY) 25.62 t ha-1 was obtained from the cropping pattern CP2 (T. Aman rice–Potato–Boro rice–T.Aus rice) and it was followed by CP1 (18.49) and CP3 (16.03) during one year crops cycle. The highest gross margin Tk. 148882 ha-1 was also obtained from CP2  followed by CP3 (Tk. 133315 ha-1). The highest MBCR (2.24) was however, obtained from the cropping pattern CP3 (T. Aman–Mustard– Mungbean–T. Aus).  Based on overall yield performance, economic benefit and climatic situation of Rajshahi region it may be concluded that CP3 was the best pattern than others.Bangladesh Agron. J. 2014, 17(2): 55-60

The experiments were carried out at the Regional Wheat Research Centre, Rajshahi of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) for two consecutive years, 2009-10 and 2010-11 to evaluate the agro-economic productivity of Wheat-Rice cropping sequence as influenced by integrated plant nutrition system (IPNS) and inclusion of legume crops. The experiment comprised of four cropping sequences viz. Wheat-Mungbean- T. Aman rice, Wheat-Blackgram- T. Aman rice, Wheat-Sesbania- T. Aman rice and Wheat- Fallow- T. Aman rice; and six nutrient treatments viz. 100% recommended nutrient rates, IPNS with 3 t ha-1 poultry manure (PM), IPNS with 6 t ha-1 PM, IPNS with 5 t ha-1 cowdung (CD), IPNS with 10 t ha-1 CD and farmers’ practice (FP). It was carried out in a split-plot design assigning cropping sequences in the main plots and nutrient treatments in the sub-plots with three replications. For the IPNS, the 100% nutrient rates were adjusted with manure and fertilizers. Inclusion of mungbean in the Wheat-Rice cropping sequence showed higher production cost but it gave higher system productivity, gross return, gross margin, benefitcost ratio and production efficiency. This cropping sequence gave on an average 57% higher wheat equivalent yield (WEY) compared to the existing Wheat-Rice sequence followed by blackgram included cropping sequence. The IPNS based fertilizer and manure application had better yield performance, WEY, gross margin, gross return, benefit-cost ratio, production efficiency and land use efficiency as compared to 100% chemical fertilizers or FP. It is concluded that the Wheat-Mungbean-Rice cropping sequence with IPNS approach is a productive and profitable technology for crop cultivation.Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 41(1): 17-39, March 2016

Soil fertility in Bangladesh is gradually diminishing and this is now becoming a critical issue. Biogas slurry is a renewable energy produced organic fertilizer can be applied for maintaining the fertility of soil. In this study, a two years experiment was conducted in the year 2011 and 2012 at the farmer's field of Moulvibazar district under the agroecological zone 20 (AZE-20). The overall objective of the study was to observe the effect of bio-slurry on the agroeconomic performance of boro rice cultivation at on-farm condition. Three fertilizer treatments viz., T1: Soil test based (STB) inorganic fertilizer for high yield goal (HYG), T2: Integrated Plant Nutrient System (IPNS) based inorganic fertilizer + cowdung bio-slurry 5 tha -1 for HYG and T3: Farmer's practice as control i.e. average of 20 farmers fertilizer application dose in boro rice were considered during experimentation. Results revealed that bioslurry based boro rice production is more profitable than chemical fertilizer. The highest grain yield (5.06 t ha -1 ) was recorded from IPNS with 5 t ha -1 cow dung slurry for HYG (T2) while the lowest yield was obtained from farmer's practice. However, yield increase due to application of 5 t ha -1 Cowdung slurry slurry with IPNS based inorganic fertilizer was 115 and 124% compared to STB inorganic fertilizer and farmers followed treatment. Gross margin (Tk.65900 ha -1 ), benefit cost ratio (2.59) and marginal rate of return (451) were also obtained higher in the same treatment. Thus, nutrient package NPKSZn @102-12-25-18-2 kg + cowdung slurry 5 tha -1 might be helpful to get increased yield and improve soil health in AZE-20.