The contribution of mungbean residue and cowdung in supplying nutrients

Abstract

The contribution of mungbean residue in green manuring (GM) for different fertilizer management treatments was assessed and reported in this paper. A cropping pattern based experiment was launched at the Bangladesh Agricultural University Farm, Mymensingh, Bangladesh in the rabi season of 1999 with wheat as its first crop. The study was continued in the same field having the same layout for three consecutive years. Mungbean residues were incorporated in different treatments and cow dung was also used in several of the treatments. The results revealed that mungbean residues accumulated 1.14 to 1.76 t of dry matter ha^-1 which added or recycled amounted to 14.6 to 43.1 kg N ha^-1, 1.26 to 3.66 kg P ha^-1, 16.3 to 35.9 kg K ha^-1, 1.24 to 3.64 kg S ha^-1, 31 to 80 g Zn ha^-1 and 5 to 13 g B ha^-1 over the course of the treatments and years. The highest amount of N, P, K, S, Zn and B accumulation was from mungbean residue incorporation plus a reduced dose of inorganic fertilizers for high yield goal (HYG) treatment. The application of 5 t ha^-1 of decomposed cowdung (wet weight basis) added 1.70 to 2.02 t ha^-1 of dry weight, which provided 18.7 to 27.0 kg N, 5.96 to 9.54 kg P, 15.5 to 21.6 kg K, 3.06 to 4.53 kg S, 0.13 to 0.18 kg Zn and 0.69 to 0.89 kg B ha^-1 over the years.