Effect of Different Organic and Inorganic Mulches on Soil Properties and Performance of Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.)

An experiment was conducted at the Experimental Field Laboratory of the Department of Environmental Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during the period for 19th March, 2015 to 5th August, 2015 to investigate the effects of different organic and inorganic mulches on soil properties and brinjal growth and yield. The experiment included five treatments viz. black polythene, transparent polythene, rice straw, saw dust and control. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. The black polythene mulch reduced soil acidity and increased available potassium content in the soil. On the other hand, saw dust mulch was better in respect of total nitrogen and organic matter contents. All the mulches generated higher soil moisture over the control. The soil moisture content of the black polythene mulch was higher compared to other mulches. Growth parameters like dry weight of shoot plant-1, dry weight of roots plant-1, and leaf area index (LAI) were significantly influenced by different mulches over the control. Yield also increased significantly over control where maximum yield was found in rice straw treated plot (35.17 t ha-1) and minimum in the control (26.42 t ha-1). The yield was found in order of rice straw > transparent polythene>saw dust>black polythene>control plots. Though black and transparent polythene mulches superior for microclimate but rice straw mulch showed better performance on yield and yield contributing characters of summer brinjal.