PERFORMANCE OF THREE GRASSPEA VARIETIES WITH AND WITHOUT RHIZOBIUM INOCULANT

A thesis Submitted to the Department of Soil Science Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka In partial flit flhlment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE (MS) IN SOIL SCIENCE SEMESTER: JULY-DECEMBER, 2007

The experiment was conducted at the Central Research Farm of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Joydcbpur, Gazipur during the period for November 2006 to March 2007 to study the performance of three grasspea varieties with and without Rh&ohiu,n. There were six treatment combinations and four replications were laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) technique The Rlnzahn,,n strain BARI RLs-1 0 was used for the above experiment The selected varieties were BARI Khesari-1, BARI Khesari-2 and Jamalpur local. The above varieties were tested with or without Rh/whim,, inoculation. BARI Khesari-1 performed the best than other two varieties in respect of different parameters like nodule number and weight, root weight and shoot weight, root length and shoot length, leaf and branch number, seed yield, stover yield, plant height, WOO-seed weight, pods plant", seeds pod", N content in stover and seed, N uptake by stover and seed, protein content in seed. Rhizohium inoculation significantly increased nodule number and weight, root weight and shoot weight, root length and shoot length, leaf and branch number, seed yield, stover yield, plant height, 1000-seed weight, pods plant", seeds pod', N content in stover, N uptake by stover and seed, protein content in seed. Interaction effects revealed that BARI Khesari-1 with inoculation recorded the highest nodulation, yield and other parameters compared to other treatment combinations and uninoeulated Janialpur local gave the lowest yield. xiv