PERFORMANCE OF VARIETY AND PLANTING MATERIALS ON GROWTH AND YIELD ATTRIBUTES OF SWEET POTATO

Md.Harun-or -Rashied,Md.Nurul Huda Al Mamun,A.B.M.Sahidul Islam,M.Mizanur Rahman,N.M.Jahangir
Soil Resource Development Institute, Bangladesh
ABSTRACT
The experiment was conducted at the Horticulture Farm, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during the period from December 2001 to May 2002 to study on the performance of variety and planting materials the growth and yield of sweet potato. There were five sweet potato varieties viz., Tripti, Kamalasunduri, Daulatpuri, BARI sweet potato-4 and BARI sweet potato-5 and three cuttings of vine viz., tip, middle and basal portion used as planting materials. There were wide variations among the varieties in most of the parameters studied. BARI sweet potato-5 produced longest vine and maximum tuberous root per plant while Tripti produced maximum number of branches per plant and Daulatpuri gave longest tuberous roots. Tip cuttings performed best in survivability, vine length, number of branches and tuberous roots per plant.
Key word: Planting materials, Variety, Growth and yield

1. INTRODUCTION
Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas Poir) is one of the major starch rich root crops of the tropics and sub-tropics belonging to the family Convolvulaceae. It is very popular among the poor people of Bangladesh because of its low price. The tuberous roots of this crop are edible and are consumed as boiled, baked, roasted or fried forms (Onwueme, 1978). The young vine with tender leaves is also consumed as vegetable. Bangladesh produced 378 thousand metric tones of sweet potato in an area of 4089 thousand hectares of land showing an average yield of 9029 metric tones per hectare during the year 1999-2000 (BBS, 2001). The average yield is very low compared to Japan and Korea where per hectare yields are reported to be 22.7 and 21.0 t/ha respectively (FAO, 1999). The main reasons for such lower yield are mainly use of low yielding varieties and sub-optimal production practices. Only five improved varieties, namely, Tripti, Kamalasunduri, Daulatpuri, BARI sweet potato-4 and BARI sweet potato-5, have been developed by Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Joydebpur, Gazipur (Razzaque et al. 2000). These varieties are yet to be popularized among the farmers. Sweet potatoes are propagated normally by vine cuttings. The farmers in our country generally use cut pieces of vines irrespective of the position (basal, middle or apical part of vines). It is reported some advantages of apical cutting over the use of other parts of vine in producing higher yield (Hossain and Mondal, 1994), but this is not well accepted and even not extensively practiced in sweet potato cultivation. Moreover, influence of different vine parts of different varieties were also not evaluated properly. The present work was, therefore, undertaken to find out suitable vine parts as planting material of different varieties for maximization of vegetative growth as well as yield of sweet potato.
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
The field experiment was carried out at the Horticulture Farm of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during the period from December, 2001 to May, 2002 to study the performance of variety and planting materials on growth, yield and physiological attributes of sweet potato. The experimental site was located at 24.60 N latitude and 90.50 E longitudes. The soil of the experimental plot was sandy-loam in texture belonging to the Old Brahmaputra Flood Plain under the Agro-Ecological Zone 9 having non calcareous dark gray flood plain soil (FAO, 1988). The land was medium high with adequate irrigation and drainage facilities. Soil characteristics of the experimental site at a depth 0-30 cm were assessed at the “Humboldt Soil Testing Laboratory”, Department of Soil Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh.. The soil characteristics were as follows: Soil pH 6.37, Organic carbon (%)0.61, Organic matter (%)1.05, Total nitrogen (%) 0.06, Available phosphorus (ppm)25.00, Available sulphur (ppm) 6.00 and Exchangeable K (meq/100 g soil) 0.07. The whole vines of these five varieties were collected from the Tuber Crops Research Centre (TCRC), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Joydebpur, Gazipur. Vine cuttings of sweet potato (tip, middle and basal portion) approximately 30 cm in length with at least 6-7 nodes were used. The experiment consisted two factors namely, varieties and vine cuttings which were as follows.
Factor A: It included five varieties of sweet potato such as: V1- Tripti V2-Kamalasunduri V3- Daulatpuri V4-BARI sweet potato-4 V5-BARI sweet potato-5
Factor B: Three types of vine cutting like P1-Tip cutting,P2- Middle portion vine cutting , P3- Basal portion were used as planting material . The two factor experiment was laid out in the Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The plants were spaced with 60 × 30 cm spacing (Rashid and Mannan, 1986) in unit plots of 2.4m×2.4m. The land was fertilized with well decomposed Cow dung 10 tons/ha, Urea 150 kg/ha, Triple Super Phosphate (TSP) 125 kg/ha and Murate of Potash (MP) 175 kg/ha. The entire amount of cow dung, TSP, one-fourth of urea and MP were applied to each experimental plot during final land preparation. Rest part of urea and MP were side dressed after 60 days of planting. The vine cuttings were planted in the experimental plots in the afternoon of 1 December, 2001.The intercultural operation like weeding, earthing up, irrigation, and Vine lifting and plant protection from pest were done whenever needed. Data were collected on different growth and physiological parameters of sweet potato. The plant of the outer two rows and the extreme ends of the middle rows were excluded from random selection of plant to avoid the border effects. Ten plants were randomly selected from each plot to record data on cutting survivability (%), length of vine (cm), number of branches per plant, number of tuberous roots per plant, length of tuberous roots, diameter of tuberous roots, regularity in shape and grading of tuberous roots by number.The data were analyzed to find out the significance of the difference among the treatments. The analysis was performed by F-test and the significance of the difference between pairs of treatment mean was evaluated by the Least Significant Difference (LSD) test, at 1% and 5% level of probability (Gomez and Gomez, 1984).


3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1. Cutting survivability (%)
There was significant variation among the varieties in respect of cutting survivability recorded at 40 DAP. The highest survivability of cutting (92.97%) was found in the variety BARI sweet potato-5 followed by Daulatpuri (90.04%), Tripti (89.24%) and Kamalasunduri (84.72%) (Fig.1). It was lowest in BARI sweet potato-4 (Fig. 1). Survivability of sweet potato cutting was also affected by different types of cutting. The highest survivability of cutting (94.38%) was observed with tip cuttings followed by middle cuttings (90.43%) and the lowest survivability (77.71%) was found in basal cuttings (Table 6). The combined effect was significant .The highest percentage of cutting survivability (95.83%) was observed in the treatment combination of Tripti with tip cuttings and as well as in the treatment combination of Daulatpuri with tip cuttings (Table 7). The lowest percentage of cutting survivability (69.79%) was observed in the variety of Kamalasunduri when basal portion was used as vine cutting and also in variety BARI sweet potato-4 when basal cutting was used. The survivability of cuttings was higher in tip and middle cuttings in comparison with basal cuttings. High mortality rate incase of basal cuttings was perhaps due to over maturity of tissue, absence of leaves and number of leaf buds from where endogenous hormone was supposed to form and help in the initiation of roots. Shanmugavelu et al. (1972) reported poor establishment of cuttings when leaves were removed before planting.
3.2. Length of vine (cm)
There was a significant difference in vine length among the varieties recorded at 45, 60, 75, 90, 105, 120 DAP and at harvest. At harvest, the variety BARI sweet potato-5 produced longest (207.66 cm) vine followed by Kamalasunduri (182.21 cm), Tripti (177.52 cm) and BARI sweet potato-4 (160.90 cm). Where as, the shortest (96.86 cm) vine length was recorded in Daulatpuri (Fig. 2).The length of the vine per plant was significantly influenced by vine parts .At harvest, tip cuttings produced the highest length of vine (173.73 cm) (Table 6). The shortest length of vine was produced by basal cuttings (158.30 cm)(Table 6).The length of the longest vine was found significantly different due to the combined effect of varieties and vine parts at different days after planting .At harvest, the length of the longest vine (216.00 cm) was found in the treatment combination of variety BARI sweet potato-5 with middle portion vine cuttings and the shortest length of the vine (92.43 cm) was found in the treatment combination of variety Daulatpuri with basal cuttings (Table 7). There was also significant interaction between different varieties and vine parts at harvest in this respect. Tip cuttings produced maximum length of vine might be due to early survivability and high vigor of tip cuttings for subsequent growth of vine.
3.3. Number of branches per plant
At harvest, number of branches per plant ranged from 14.93 to 18.81 (Fig. 3) among different varieties. The maximum number of branches per plant was produced by the variety Tripti and it was minimum Kamalasunduri (14.93). Rests of the three varieties were statistically similar in this respect. Differences in branching might be due to genotypic variation. The number of branches per plant differed significantly by different types of cutting (Fig.3) .At harvest, the highest number of branches (19.71) per plant was found in tip cuttings and the lowest number of branches (15.77) was found in basal cuttings (Table 6). The interaction effect between variety and vine parts was found to be significant in respect of number of branches per plant at harvest. The highest (23.92) number of branches was obtained from the treatment combination of Tripti with tip cutting and lowest (14.27) from BARI sweet potato-5 with basal cutting (Table 7).
The plants from tip cuttings gave more branches because of the fact that tip cuttings established quickly in the soil by initiating more roots and thereby encouraged subsequent production of more branches. This finding agrees with the results of Chowdhury et al. (1986).
3.4. Number of tuberous roots per plant
There was significant variation among the varieties in respect of number of tuberous roots per plant (Table 1). The highest number of tuberous roots per plant (4.54) was found in the variety BARI sweet potato-5 followed by the variety of Kamalasunduri (3.92), BARI sweet potato-4 (3.89) and Tripti (3.73).The lowest number of tuberous roots per plant (3.42) was obtained from variety Daulatpuri. Siddique (1985) found that the number of tuberous root per plant varied from 1.78 to 6.03. The number of tuberous roots per plant was significantly influenced by vine parts (Table 2). The highest number of tuberous roots per plant (4.52) was obtained from tip cuttings which was statistically different from others. The minimum number of tuberous roots (3.41) was produced by the basal cuttings which differed statistically from middle cuttings (3.78). Bhuiyan and Chowdhury (1984) found that tip cuttings produced greater number of tuberous roots than other two types of cutting. The interaction between variety and vine part was significant and their combined effect was also significant in respect of number of tuberous root (Table 3). The highest number of tuberous roots per plant (5.27) was found in the treatment combination of BARI sweet potato-5 with tip cuttings and lowest (3.03) from Daulatpuri with basal cuttings.
3.5. Length of tuberous roots
A wide variation was observed in length of tuberous root among the varieties (Table 1). The variety Daulatpuri produced maximum (13.93 cm) length of tuberous roots and Tripti produced minimum (10.28 cm) length of tuberous roots which was statistically similar with the variety BARI sweet potato-5 (10.54 cm). The variety Kamalasunduri produced length of tuberous root 11.24 cm which was statistically similar with BARI sweet potato-4 (11.66 cm). Hafizuddin and Haque (1979) reported that length of tuberous roots varied from variety to variety. The effect of vine parts on length of tuberous root was significant (Table 2). The maximum length of tuberous roots (12.48 cm) was found from tip cuttings and lowest (10.60 cm) from basal cuttings. The combined effect of different variety and vine parts in respect of length of tuberous root showed significant variation (Table 3). The maximum length of tuberous roots (15.60 cm) was found in the treatment combination of variety Daulatpuri with tip cuttings.


3.6. Diameter of tuberous roots
The diameter of tuberous roots varied markedly among the varieties (Table 1). The highest diameter of tuberous roots (4.92 cm) was found in variety Kamalasunduri that was statistically similar to the diameter of tuberous roots of Tripti (4.84 cm) and BARI sweet potato-4 (4.68 cm). This might be due to the varietal characteristics. The diameter of tuberous root significantly influenced by vine parts (Table 2). The maximum diameter of tuberous roots (4.94 cm) was recorded from tip cuttings followed by middle cuttings (4.49 cm) and the basal cuttings (3.98 cm). The combined effect of different variety and vine parts was found significant on the diameter of tuberous roots (Table 3). The largest diameter of tuberous root (5.70 cm) was obtained from variety Tripti with tip cuttings and the minimum (3.45 cm) was obtained from Daulatpuri with basal cuttings which was statistically similar to the same variety with middle cuttings (3.53 cm).
3.7. Regularity in shape of tuberous root
Regularity in shape exhibited significant variation on different varieties (Table 1). The score of regularity in shape of tuberous root as influenced by variety ranged from 2.93 to 6.57. The highest score (6.57) was obtained from BARI sweet potato-5 followed by BARI sweet potato-4 (5.57), Kamalasunduri (4.40) and Daulatpuri (3.40). The lowest score (2.93) was found in the variety Tripti. Vine cuttings also had significant effect on regularity in shape of tuberous root (Table 2). Maximum regular tuber was found with tip cuttings scored highest (5.26), while the lowest score (3.88) was found in basal cuttings. There was significant interaction between type of cutting and varieties on the production of regular shape of tuberous roots. The highest score for regular shape of tuberous root (7.5) was obtained from BARI sweet potato-5 with middle cuttings which was statistically similar with tip cuttings (7.00) of same variety (Table 3).
3.8. Grading of tuberous roots by number
There was a significant difference in distribution of tuberous root sizes among the varieties (Table 4). The highest percentage (25.55) of large (>200 g) tuberous roots was found in the variety Tripti, which was statistically similar with Kamalasunduri (25.06%) and BARI sweet potato-5 (23.90%). The variety Kamlasundari produced the highest percentage (45.04%) of medium tuberous root (100 to 200 g) and the lowest (38.92%) was found in the variety Daulatpuri. In case of small (<100 g) tuberous root, the highest percentage (41.15%) was found in the variety Daulatpuri followed by BARI sweet potato-4 (37.27%), BARI sweet potato-5 (37.20%) and Tripti (33.18%). Vine cuttings also showed significant variation on grading of tubers (Table 5). The highest percentage (26.99%) of large tuberous roots was found in tip cuttings followed by middle cuttings (23.36%) and basal cuttings (20.05%). In case of medium (100-200 g) tuberous root, the highest percentage (41.16%) was found from basal cuttings and lowest (40.71%) from tip cuttings. The highest percentage (39.08%) of small tuberous roots was obtained from basal cuttings which differed statistically from tip and middle cuttings.
4. Conclusion: There were wide variations among the varieties in most of the characters studied. None of the varieties was found best in all parameters. Tip cuttings performed best in all cases of the study.
References:
BARI. 1998. Sweet Potato (Leaflet in Bengali). Tuber Crops Research Centre, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Joydebpur, Gazipur.
BBS. 2001. Monthly Statistical Bulletin of Bangladesh, May 2001. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. Statistics Division, Ministry of Planning, Govt. of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka. p. 55.
Bhuiyan, M.A.J. and A.R. Chowdhury. 1984. Effect of methods of planting and types of cutting on the growth and yield of sweet potato. Bangladesh J. Agril. Res., 9(1): 27-32.
Chowdhury, S.H., S.U. Ahmed and A.F.M. Sharfuddin. 1986. Effect of number of nodes in different types of vine
cutting on the growth and yield of swees potato. Bangladesh Hort. 14(1): 29-33.
FAO. 1988. FAO Production Year Book. Basic Data Unit. Statistics Division, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy, 48:90.
FAO. 1999. FAO Production Year Book. Basic Data Unit. Statistics Division, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy, 53:95.
Gomez, K.A. and A.A. Gomez. 1984. Statistical Procedure for Agricultural Research (2nd ed.). John Wiley & sons, Singapore. pp. 18-192.
Hafizuddin, M. and M.A. Haque. 1979. Effect of nitrogen and potash at different levels on the yield of two local varieties of sweet potato. Bangladesh Hort. 7(1&2) : 18-23.
Hossain, M.M. and M.A.A. Mondal. 1994. Effects of vine parts on the growth and yield of three sweet potato varieties. Bangladesh J. Sci. and Ind. Res. 29(3): 181-184.
Onwueme, I.C. 1978. The Tropical Tuber Crops: Yams, Cassava, Sweet potato and Cocoyams. English Language Book Society and John Wiley & Sons, Chichester. p. 179.
Rashid, M.M. and M.A. Mannan. 1986. Mitha Alur Chash (in Bengali). Root Crop Project, Bangladesh Agril. Res. Inst., Joydebpur, Gazipur. pp. 5-10.
Razzaque, M. A., M.A. Sattar, M.S. Amin, M.A. Quiyum and M.S. Alam. 2000. Krishi Projukti Hatboi (Handbook on Agro-technology). (2nd ed.). Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur 1701, Bangladesh. pp. 211-222.
Shanmugavelu, K.G., S. Thamburaj and A. Shanmugan. 1972. Studies on the effect of time of planting and type of planting materials on the yield of sweet potato. South Indian Hort., 20(1/14): 55-58.
Siddique, M.A.R. 1985. Studies on the morphology, growth and yield of some sweet potato genotypes. M.Sc.(Ag.) thesis, Dept. of Hort., Bangladesh Agril. Univ., Mymensingh.
Table 1. Main effect of variety on the growth and yield contributing characters of sweet potato
Variety Number of tuberous roots/plant Length of tuberous roots (cm) Diameter of tuberous roots (cm) Regularity in shape of tuberous roots (score)
V1 3.73 10.28 4.84 2.93
V2 3.92 11.24 4.92 4.40
V3 3.42 13.93 3.81 3.40
V4 3.89 11.66 4.68 5.57
V5 4.54 10.54 4.09 6.57
LSD (0.05) 0.354 0.605 0.423 0.372
LSD (0.01) 0.477 0.817 0.571 0.501












V1 : Tripti V2 : Kamalasunduri V3 : Daulatpuri V4 : BARI Sweet Potato – 4 V5 : BARI Sweet Potato – 5
Table 2. Main effect of vine parts on the growth and yield contributing characters of sweet potato

Vine parts Number of tuberous roots/plant Length of tuberous roots (cm) Diameter of tuberous roots (cm) Regularity in shape of tuberous roots (score)
P1 4.52 12.48 4.94 5.26
P2 3.78 11.51 4.49 4.58
P3 3.41 10.60 3.98 3.88
LSD (0.01) 0.369 0.369 0.442 0.388
P1 : Tip cutting P2 : Middle portion vine cutting P3 : Basal portion vine cutting
Table 3. Combined effect of variety and vine parts on the growth and yield contributing characters of sweet potato
Treatment combination Number of tuberous roots/plant Length of tuberous roots (cm) Diameter of tuberous roots (cm) Regularity in shape of tuberous roots (score)
V1P1 4.67 11.24 5.70 3.60
V1P2 3.53 9.42 4.80 3.00
V1P3 3.20 10.17 4.03 2.20
V2P1 4.30 11.79 5.10 5.50
V2P2 3.70 11.92 5.53 4.20
V2P3 3.43 9.99 4.13 3.50
V3P1 3.83 15.60 4.43 4.00
V3P2 3.40 12.59 3.53 3.20
V3P3 3.03 13.60 3.45 3.00
V4P1 4.73 12.29 5.13 6.20
V4P2 3.63 13.21 4.17 5.00
V4P3 3.30 9.47 4.73 5.50
V5P1 5.27 11.48 4.33 7.00
V5P2 4.63 10.39 4.40 7.50
V5P3 3.73 9.75 3.53 5.20
LSD (0.01) 0.826 1.414 0.989 0.868
CV (%) 9.40 5.44 9.82 8.41

V1 : Tripti V2 : Kamalasunduri V3 : Daulatpuri V4 : BARI Sweet Potato – 4 V5 : BARI Sweet Potato - 5
P1 : Tip cutting P2 : Middle portion vine cutting P3 : Basal portion vine cutting












Table 4. Main effect of variety on grading of tuberous root by number and by weight
Variety Grading of tuberous roots (%)
> 200 g 100-200g <100g
V1 25.55 41.26 33.18
V2 25.06 45.04 30.24
V3 20.18 38.92 41.15
V4 22.64 39.87 37.27
V5 23.90 39.81 37.20
LSD (0.01) 2.213 2.798 2.534
V1 : TriptiV2 : KamalasunduriV3 : DaulatpuriV4 : BARI Sweet Potato – 4 V5 : BARI Sweet Potato – 5
Table 5. Main effect of vine cuttings grading of tuberous roots by number.
Vine parts Grading of tuberous roots (%)
>200 g 100-200 g <100 g
P1 26.99 40.71 32.34
P2 23.36 41.08 36.01
P3 20.05 41.16 39.08
LSD (0.05) 1.270 -- 1.455
LSD (0.01) 1.714 -- 1.963
P1 : Tip cutting P2 : Middle portion vine cutting P3 : Basal portion vine cutting

Table 6. Main effect of vine parts on the cutting survivability (%), length of vine (cm) and
number of branches of sweet potato

Vine parts Cutting survivability at 40 DAP(%) Length of vine At harvest (cm) Number of branches per plant At harvest
P1 94.38 173.73 19.71
P2 90.43 163.01 17.41
P3 77.71 158.30 15.77
LSD (0.05) 3.408 2.623 0.867
LSD (0.01) 4.597 3.539 1.170
P1 : Tip cutting P2 : Middle portion vine cutting P3 : Basal portion vine cutting


Table 7. Combined effect of variety and vine cuttings on the cutting survivability (%), length of vine (cm)
and number of branches of sweet potato
Treatment combination Cutting survivability at 40 DAP (%) Length of vine (cm)
at harvest Number of branches
at harvest
V1P1 95.83 189.80 23.92
V1P2 92.71 172.40 19.80
V1P3 79.17 170.37 15.95
V2P1 94.79 207.70 14.67
V2P2 89.58 171.27 15.00
V2P3 69.79 167.67 15.84
V3P1 95.83 95.03 21.67
V3P2 93.83 103.10 17.73
V3P3 80.46 92.43 14.83
V4P1 90.63 171.47 18.62
V4P2 81.25 152.30 16.37
V4P3 69.79 158.93 16.50
V5P1 94.79 204.63 18.17
V5P2 94.79 216.00 19.16
V5P3 89.33 202.33 14.27
LSD (0.05) 7.62 6.217 1.939
LSD (0.01) 10.28 8.387 2.616
CV (%) 5.21 2.13 6.83

















V1 : TriptiV2 : KamalasunduriV3 : DaulatpuriV4 : BARI Sweet Potato – 4 V5 : BARI Sweet Potato - 5
P1 : Tip cutting P2 : Middle portion vine cutting P3 : Basal portion vine cutting

Climate change begins to affect Bangladesh

CLIMATE of Bangladesh is changing day by day.It is affecting Bangladesh in many ways. For instance, rising sea levels are making some coastal agricultural land more saline, affecting both the quality and quantity of the produce. Bangladesh urgently needs support to develop climate-resilient agriculture for its people to survive and prosper in the long term, according to some experts. In its southern districts where the land is only centimetres above the brackish estuarine water, large swathes of crop land are becoming arid. Crop yields are shrinking because of deeper saline intrusion due to a rising Bay of Bengal. Agronomists and agricultural experts worry that creeping salinity would engulf more and more land in the low-lying country. "The impact of climate change on agriculture is undeniable and will most certainly worsen if governments and donors fail to take suitable steps right now," Ghulam Mohammad Panaullah, former research director of the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), warned. In the coastal areas, cocoa-nut and betel-nut trees do not yield half of what they did two decades ago, while banana groves are dying in hundreds, Panaullah told IRIN. Vegetables, from the coastal belt sold in urban Dhaka, Khulna and Rajshahi are deemed tasteless and fetch low prices compared to the produce from salt-free regions. In a country where almost 80 per cent of the population lives in rural areas, this is bad news. According to the World Bank, Bangladesh's agriculture sector accounts for about 22 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), and another 33 per cent of GDP comes from the rural non-farm sectors, though very much linked to agriculture. Around 54 per cent of the rural population is employed in agriculture. ActionAid in a report on the UN climate change summit in Poznan, Poland, said Bangladesh needs the support to develop its climate-resilient agriculture.Citing an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which said that South Asia might experience a 30 per cent drop in agricultural production by 2050, Action Aid said the slide was already evident. Food price volatility, which could be compounded by increasing climate change variability, is likely to be a serious problem in the foreseeable future, according to Action Aid. The report said support for sustainable climate-resilient agriculture was key to enabling farmers to adapt and increase food security. To address the problem, farmers have taken to the new technique of raising their vegetable beds. To preserve the soil's moisture they cover the seedbeds with straw and leaves. The technique prevents excessive evaporation and erosion. They are also increasing the use of organic manure to raise crops.Others are readjusting their cropping patterns altogether, the report said. "Bangladesh is one of the worst affected among countries that are facing the early impacts of climate change," said A.K.M. Rezaul Kabir, secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. In 2005 the government prepared a National Action Plan on Adaptation (NAPA) identifying 15 projects that need to be undertaken. But, "unfortunately three years have already passed and we have only just started implementing the first project," the official said. Bangladesh tops the Global Climate Risk Index 2009, followed by North Korea and Nicaragua. Launched at the UN climate change conference in Poznan on December 04, 2008, the index, drawn up by the international NGO Germanwatch, lists 170 countries. Natural calamities in Bangladesh claimed 4,729 lives last year, and the average loss of property in Bangladesh due to natural disasters stands at over US$4.0 billion per year, the NGO said. These changes in climate are already having major impacts on the economy and on the lives and livelihoods of millions of poor people, said a World Bank report. Rainfall increases, during the summer monsoon, could increase flooding in more vulnerable areas in Bangladesh, say the forecasts. In the longer term, global warming could melt many glaciers to swell the rivers in South Asia, the report said. If that happens, green Bangladesh would turn into a grey desert and most people would die of starvation.

Therefore,we should take nesessary action to protect our Bangladesh from affecting climate change.

Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture -on Asia

Nowadays,Climate change is burning issue for globally.Climate is changing day by day.Some research work have been done in this regard.The facts and finding are as followes:
· According to the study, the Asia-Pacific region will experience the worst effect on rice and wheat yields worldwide, and decreased yields could threaten the food security of 1.6 billion people in South Asia.
· The crop model indicates that in South Asia, average yields in 2050 for crops will decline from 2000 levels by about 50 percent for wheat, 17 percent for rice, and about 6 percent for maize because of climate change.
· In East Asia and the Pacific, yields in 2050 for crops will decline from 2000 levels by up to 20 percent for rice, 13 percent for soybean, 16 percent for wheat, and 4 percent for maize because of climate change.
· With climate change, average calorie availability in Asia in 2050 is expected to be about 15 percent lower and cereal consumption is projected to decline by as much as 24 percent compared to a no climate change scenario.
· In a no-climate change scenario, the number of malnourished children in South Asia would fall from 76 to 52 million between 2000 and 2050, and from 24 to 10 million in East Asia and the Pacific. Climate change will erase some of this progress, causing the number of malnourished children in 2050 to rise to 59 million in South Asia and to 14 million in East Asia and the Pacific, increasing the total number of malnourished children in Asia by about 11 million.
. To counteract the effects of climate change on nutrition, South Asia requires additional annual investments of 1.5 billion USD in rural development, and East Asia and the Pacific require almost 1 million USD more. Over half of these investments in both regions must be for irrigation expansion.
Source: International Food Policy Research Institute, Climate Change: Impact on Agriculture and Costs of Adaptation, 2009
Additional Facts
·The Asian countries most vulnerable to climate change are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Nepal.
·Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, and Nepal are particularly vulnerable to declining crop yields due to glacial melting, floods, droughts, and erratic rainfall, among other factors.
·Asia is the most disaster-afflicted region in the world, accounting for about 89 percent of people affected by disasters worldwide.
·More than 60 percent of the economically active population and their dependents—2.2 billion people—rely on agriculture for their livelihoods in developing parts of Asia.
Source: Asian Development Bank, Addressing Climate Change in the Asia and Pacific Region, 2009

Money Is Not Everything

We were just talking a few minutes ago over lunch with a lady who consulted us on how to go about developing her dream farm a year ago. She is a daughter of a former mayor who left behind several hectares of upland farms that have not been made productive for so many years. In one farm, a 7-hectare property that was willed to her, there’s a caretaker who has been doing nothing productive except to harvest the nuts of the few coconut trees that have been planted many years ago.
The lady is a highly educated professional who until lately was doing a lucrative consultancy work in Europe, China and elsewhere. Apparently, she has accumulated a sizeable nest egg, and probably felt that in this life there are more important things than just making money. She gave up her consulting job so she could develop her dream farm and in the process contribute her share in developing the community.
When we first met, we suggested that she consider growing high-value vegetables. Which she liked very much for a number of good reasons. Vegetables have a short gestation period and they could be grown year-round with the use of the latest technologies.
We suggested to her then that she visit as many vegetable farms as possible. And more important, she should attend trainings in vegetable culture. Which she did, not just once but twice. She attended the training course of Harbest Agribusiness in Cavite, and then the off-season course in vegetable production by East-West Seed.At our lunch meeting, she was excited about her project. She showed us her first harvest of beautiful tomatoes, her bamboo propagation project (11,000 propagules so far), and the beautiful farm house she is building. She has also bought a tractor to mechanize her land preparation.
She is very proud of her eight farm workers who work eight hours a day, just like they were working in an office. An on-farm training was conducted right in her farm with an invited trainor. She has already invested a big sum but she is confident that it will be recovered in no time.
Some meaningful friends have advised her not to go into farming, suggesting instead that she invest her money in some other financial schemes. But she would not listen. She was determined to make her inherited farm productive. She considers it a crime not to make the property useful. Her philosophy now is to plant and plant and plant some more

2010: The year of the fertilizer bargain?

Farmers see potential savings in '10 fertilizer buys

It's been a while since global fertilizer prices started sliding from record highs, but the beginning of the new year could usher in some good fertilizer buys for farmers.
The world market's dipped but returned from its lowest point. Still, prices are well below the highs from a little over a year ago, when prices for urea, phosphate and potash were all hovering at or near record levels. That means there could be some good buys out there.
"Fertilizer prices for the 2010 season should be a bargain compared to past years but you will need to comparison shop," says University of Nebraska Extension soils specialist Gary Hergert.
Nitrogen
Take nitrogen, for example. With urea prices at their lowest levels since 2006 and high ammonia inventories in the Corn Belt right now, it's not a bad time to nail down supply for the coming year before a current glut of inventory is spoken for and demand picks back up.
"World urea prices declined significantly since 2008 and were back to 2006 levels this summer. Prices rebounded somewhat recently and are showing some strengthening, but are still well below highs seen last year," Hergert says of urea, which currently ranges from $400 to $470 per ton in western Nebraska, for example. "The best nitrogen buy is ammonia. With the late corn harvest, there was little fall application through most of the Corn Belt and this has created high inventories. Ammonia FOB the Corn Belt is now running just over $350/ton with dealers asking $400/ton.
"World demand for fertilizer is still recovering," Hergert adds. "The Chinese had nitrogen export tariffs but are expected to lower these. The Russians have opened a new facility to load super tankers with ammonia which provides competition for world markets."
Phosphorous & potash
After huge jumps in the last 2 years, phosphorous and potash prices have, like nitrogen, sunk back to 2006 levels. That's after prices almost quadrupled for 18-46-0 DAP, which is now running around $330 per ton in the Corn Belt, Hergert says.
Potash prices have fallen by half from last summer to around $400 per ton and have "recently taken another small drop," Hergert says. This market's a little different than phosphorous and nitrogen, though, mainly due to geographic factors.
"In the western hemisphere, potash prices are effectively controlled by the Canadians who have much of the world supply," Hergert adds. "They have the advantage over the Russians and Europeans because they have lower transportation costs to get it to the U.S. Potash prices took much longer to decline than nitrogen and phosphorus."
Farm-level implications
In general, fertilizer is the crop input where most farmers say they can trim cost for the coming crop year. In a recent Agriculture.com poll, 47% responding said fertilizer represents the biggest potential money-saver.
"For my farm, the biggest expense is fertilizer, so when the price drops in half, that's a lot of savings," says Agriculture.com Farm Business Talk member Whitesand Farms. "Fall-applied NH3 last year was 85 cents a pound with applicator and delivered, and this year it is 35 cents a pound on 100 tons of NH3. That's a big difference."
If past high prices have caused you to change your fertilizer program in the past 2 years, Hergert recommends sharpening your attention on soil testing, making sure your soil profile is up to snuff and applying the right amounts of N, P and K.
"It may be a challenge to get soil test results this year because of the late corn harvest. Soil phosphorus and potassium levels do not change rapidly, so you can use historic field averages as a guideline," he says. "Follow a good soil testing program and if soil phosphorus levels are low, this would be a good year to build them. The key to maintaining profitability is to know your soil test levels and do a excellent job of fertilizer application to enhance efficiency."
Watching these soil test results closely -- namely, soil pH -- will determine which application method is best, Hergert adds.
"Strip-till or zone-till placement of phosphorus at shallower depths should perform similarly to row application and provide similar efficiency. In more neutral soil pH ranges, it may be time to look at broadcasting and incorporating phosphorus," he says. "Take a look at the nitrogen sources you have been using to see if changes could benefit profitability. Ammonia should be an exceptional buy and nitrogen solution is priced even lower than urea."

With Healthy Soil Comes Healthy Crop

The condition of the soil is the most important factor in successful farming because if the soil is healthy, the crops planted in it would be healthy, too.
This is the conviction of Wilfred Noriel of Baloc, Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija. Believing that the crop’s nourishment is the best shield against plant sickness, this economics graduate of De La Salle University who has been farming for more than 11 years has been seeking ways to bring back lost soil nutrients.
He visits farms here and abroad to learn from farmers and experts. He also reads a lot and develops new farming techniques based on his readings and experiences.
In one of his visits to the University of the Philippines Los Banos, a friend offered him a microbial inoculants that hastens decomposition. Due to curiosity, he used it in land preparation and found out that with activated microorganisms, stubbles, hays, grasses, and other farm wastes decompose easily, incorporating back to the soil nutrient

s such as silica and calcium.
Wilfred says, “it usually takes 10-14 days to decompose farm wastes, and so our land preparation ends on the 21st day.” Within this duration, the farm would be completely cleaned from the previous season’s residues.
The key to efficient land preparation, according to him, is to achieve the softest possible texture of the soil containing decomposed wastes because plant roots develop well in soft soil. So in the dry season when the soil is hard, he uses 20 kilograms of organic fertilizer with 75 percent humic acid per hectare. This will loosen the soil during basal application. In theory, 10 tons of organic manure is needed to supplement 1 hectare of rice land. Whereas, with humic acid in fertilizers, only two bags are needed.
When it comes to fertilizer application, which is usually done in 2-3 splits, he does it two times more. Before the final harrowing, he uses 60 percent of a special organic fertilizer containing 22 percent phosphorus for basal application. He chose this fertilizer over the commercial ones because it has 50 percent more phosphorus and it contains sillicic acid, a mineral that keeps the cell wall of the rice plant strong. Then he applies the remaining 40 percent of the fertilizer at 3-4 splits.
He also mixes the organic fertilizer with single elements like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and even sulfate, if available. In dry and wet seasons, he uses 810 bags and 6 bags of organic fertilizers per hectare, respectively. Each bag only costs P420, cheaper than the inorganic fertilizers that are also applied in combinations.
Then a week after transplanting, he applies a soil conditioner that contains nitrogen-fixing bacteria, humic acid, and other micronutrients at a rate of 2 kilograms per hectare. Then he solubilizes phosphorus to enable the plants to absorb important elements.
Wilfred also sprays Biocozyme with zinc foliar fertilizer once in a planting period. One of his secrets is that during the reproductive phase and early heading, he applies foliar sprays containing a combination of 1 percent each of calcium, boron, and zinc. To produce whole and tasty grains, he mixes 20-20-20 with 40-48, and applies the solution 45-58 days after transplanting and at early heading. The high potassium concentration helps improve grain quality.
He also gives importance on the way chemicals are mixed. Chemicals are usually oil-based. To realize the full potential of these, he said that each chemical should be thoroughly mixed in drums or any other container before transferring into the sprayer.
When it comes to pests and diseases, for him, the best way to control these is by making the crops resistant to these through proper soil conditioning and fertilization. In this way, insect pest management becomes unnecessary.
“If a person is physically fit, he does not get sick. The same is true in rice plants,” he adds. However, in extreme cases when the disease from his neighboring farms spreads, he opts for pesticides but in appropriate dilution.
“All problems in the field are associated with nutritional balance. You just need to manage it to ensure high yield,” he said referring to how he was able to harvest an average yield of 6 tons per hectare from his 23-hectare farm.
His yield is really enviable because aside from being high, it has also a higher grain quality. Wilfred has achieved this because he has ample time to focus on improving his farm practices for he does not have any problems on managing pests and diseases, thanks to the healthy soil in his farm.

Fruit Production And Climate Change

Mitigating the adverse effects of climate on fruit production is the subject of an interesting article of Dr. Pablito P. Pamplona.
Dr. Pamplona, of course, is the fruit expert who retired earlier from the University of Southern Mindanao in Kabacan, North Cotabato, and now managing his own fruit farm and nursery.
He writes that production of pummelo, longkong lanzones, durian, mangosteen and rambutan in Mindanao has been adversely affected by the climate change that started in 2007. Climate change, he said, brought about unpredictable occurrence of long and heavy rains accompanied by strong winds not previously experienced in Mindanao. One time, it’s a prolonged period of light rains followed by a short dry spell, like what happened in 2007. The short dry period was not long enough to trigger profuse flowering of the trees and that was the reason why there was a shortfall in production.
At another time, there was a period of prolonged heavy rains which resulted in longer soil saturation that resulted in damaged roots in many instances. Because of damaged roots, the trees, especially durian, were killed. They became susceptible to the phytophthora disease.
At one time, Dr. Pamplona wrote, the heavy rains were followed by a prolonged dry period. With the intense sunlight and high temperature during that period, the leaves as well as the flowers and developing fruits wilted. Of course production declined sharply.
Dr. Pamplona writes that starting in the middle of 2008, he implemented some techniques to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change and the damage by emerging pests. “Our techniques succeeded in restoring the health and productivity of the trees enabling us to produce commercial quantities of mangosteen, durian, pummelo and longkong fruits under a situation where low to no production was experienced in many fruit farms in Mindanao.