Suitability of Broccoli in Aonla based Multistoried Fruit Production Model

Abstract

Aonla based multistoried agroforestry with vegetables is a promising solution to mitigate the devastating effects of climate change by offering multidimensional benefits. Disappointedly, Bangladeshi farmers are less equipped about the cultivation techniques, economics, and yields of multistory agroforestry production systems. Consequently, the goal of the current study was to evaluate the profitability and yield potentiality of aonla-based multistoried broccoli production system during the period of November 22 to March 23. Three separate multistory agroforestry systems were covered by the three treatments, while an open field served as the control treatment. to keep track of the system's expansion and economic success; soil analysis, photosynthetically active radiation, plant height, number of leaves, head length, head width, head weight, total yield, BCR, and LER were calculated following different established methods. While compared to sole cropping, the agroforestry approach drastically reduced the production of broccoli by 89%. Soil organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and sulfur were higher in agroforestry system than that of control plot. In fact, the agroforestry system had some negative effects on the rate of crop growth in understored conditions. Despite, net return and BCR from aonla-based multistoried agroforestry system were 4-11 lakh and 2.24-3.98, which was 69-87 and 41- 67 %, respectively higher than sole cropping systems. The LER of aonla based multistoried agroforestry system was 3.20. The major conclusions show that aonla orchards can be converted to agroforestry systems to increase productivity, generate money, and protect the environment, however due to poor performance, broccoli cannot be grown in multistory systems.