Effect of Mulching and Gypsum Fertilizer Application on the Yield of Maize in Salinity Affected Area of Noakhali District, Bangladesh

An experiment was conducted at a salinity affected area in Hatiya, Noakhali to investigate the effect of mulching and gypsum fertilizer application on the yield of maize during December 2017 to May 2018. In this experiment two maize varieties, namely BARI hybrid bhutta-9 (V1) and NK-40 (V2) were used as planting material. Two mulching treatments, namely no mulching (M0) and mulching with water hyacinth (M1); and four gypsum levels namely 0 (G0), 50 (G1), 100 (G2) and 150 (G3) kg ha-1 were imposed. NK-40 variety showed higher number of grain lines cob-1 (13.34), number of grains line-1 (35.14), 100-grain weight (32.03 g) and grain yield (7.59 t ha-1) compared to BARI hybrid bhutta-9. Mulching with water hyacinth produced higher 100-grain weight (32.09 g) and grain yield (7.59 t ha-1) as compared to no mulching irrespective of variety. In case of gypsum, the highest grain yield (8.06 t ha-1) was obtained from 150 kg gypsum ha-1. For the interactions among varieties, mulching and gypsum fertilizer levels, the highest number of grains line-1, 100-grain weight and grain yield were 38.02, 34.33 g and 8.96 t ha-1 for V2M1G2 (NK-40, water hyacinth and 100 kg gypsum ha-1) treatment combination. The results revealed that mulching with water hyacinth alone increased 10.64% grain yield as compared to no mulching and application of gypsum fertilizer @ 150 kg ha-1 increased 33.66% grain yield compared to no gypsum application at salinity level (8.21 dSm-1). In case of the interactions among varieties, gypsum levels and mulching, grain yield increased by 65.61% in the variety NK-40 when cultivated with mulched conditions along with the application of gypsum fertilizer @ 100 kg ha-1 at salinity level (8.21 dSm-1). Therefore, it may be concluded that the yield of maize in the saline area of Noakhali, Bangladesh can be increased by adopting mulching technique and gypsum fertilizer application.