IMPACT OF MICROCREDIT ON INCOME AND NON-INCOME DIMENSIONS OF POVERTY – A STUDY ON DIFFERENT GROUPS OF POOR IN BANGLADESH

This study investigates the differential impact that microcredit borrowers of different income classes might have experienced in their poverty condition after borrowing microcredit loans. Methods of this study consisted of a cross-sectional survey as well as unstructured interviews with the female microcredit borrowers in Bangladesh. Results show that an overwhelming majority of microcredit borrowers has experienced improvement in their poverty condition, but the degree of benefits widely varies among different groups of borrowers. Borrowers with some resource base have been benefitted most; whereas the absolute poor borrowers, with hardly any asset holding, not only have experienced least improvement in their financial condition but also have become even poorer in few instances.  Article visualizations

Carbon mineralization in subtropical alluvial arable soils amended with sugarcane bagasse and rice husk biochars

Subtropical recent alluvial soils are low in organic carbon (C). Thus, increasing organic C is a major challenge to sustain soil fertility. Biochar amendment could be an option as biochar is a C-rich pyrolyzed material, which is slowly decomposed in soil. We investigated C mineralization (CO2-C evolution) in two types of soils (recent and old alluvial soils) amended with two feedstocks (sugarcane bagasse and rice husk) (1%, weight/weight), as well as their biochars and aged biochars under a controlled environment (25 ± 2 ◦C) over 85 d. For the recent alluvial soil (charland soil), the highest absolute cumulative CO2-C evolution was observed in the sugarcane bagasse treatment (1 140 mg CO2-C kg−1 soil) followed by the rice husk treatment (1 090 mg CO2-C kg−1 soil); the lowest amount (150 mg CO2-C kg−1 soil) was observed in the aged rice husk biochar treatment. Similarly, for the old alluvial soil (farmland soil), the highest absolute cumulative CO2-C evolution (1 290 mg CO2-C kg−1 soil) was observed in the sugarcane bagasse treatment and then in the rice husk treatment (1 270 mg CO2-C kg−1 soil); the lowest amount (200 mg CO2-C kg−1 soil) was in the aged rice husk biochar treatment. Aged sugarcane bagasse and rice husk biochar treatments reduced absolute cumulative CO2-C evolution by 10% and 36%, respectively, compared with unamended recent alluvial soil, and by 10% and 18%, respectively, compared with unamended old alluvial soil. Both absolute and normalized C mineralization were similar between the sugarcane bagasse and rice husk treatments, between the biochar treatments, and between the aged biochar treatments. In both soils, the feedstock treatments resulted in the highest cumulative CO2-C evolution, followed by the biochar treatments and then the aged biochar treatments. The absolute and normalized CO2-C evolution and the mineralization rate constant of the stable C pool (Ks) were lower in the recent alluvial soil compared with those in the old alluvial soil. The biochars and aged biochars had a negative priming effect in both soils, but the effect was more prominent in the recent alluvial soil. These results would have good implications for improving organic matter content in organic C-poor alluvial soils

Strip planting decreases nitrogen fertilizer requirements while retention of more residue increases them in a rice - wheat - mungbean sequence on a subtropical floodplain soil

Conservation agriculture (CA) has not been well developed for intensively cultivated (2-3 crops yr-1) rice- based cropping systems which produce large amounts of crop residues annually. Thus, we examined the effects of two crop establishment systems (minimum soil disturbance by strip planting (SP) or conventional tillage (CT)), two residue retention levels (low and high) and five N rates (60, 80, 100, 120 & 140% of the recommended N fertilizer doses (RFD) on nine consecutive crops on an Aeric Haplaquept under rice-wheat- mungbean sequence. Rice yields were comparable between the crop establishment types but system yields were significantly higher with SP in two out of three years compare to CT. Increased residue retention did not significantly influence rice yield but positively influenced system yields. No substantial differences in optimum N rate was estimated between CT and SP for 90% of maximum yield goal (MYG) for all the three years but substantially decreased in SP compared to CT in two out of three years for 95 and 99% of MYG. The N fertilizer requirement was 6-22% higher with high residue retention compared to low residue retention plots for all the three yield goal levels. High residue retention also increased soil organic carbon (SOC) at 0- 6 cm depth in both tillage treatments. In conclusion, introducing CA did not alter the N fertilizer requirements of rice for 90% of MYG but reduced the requirement for 95 and 99% of MYG compared to CT. However, there was evidence that the retained crop residue immobilized N and increased the fertilizer N requirement

Integrated nutrient management for tomato-okra-stem amaranth cropping pattern in homestead area.

Due to increasing population, availability of crop land is decreasing rapidly and many croplands are being turned into homestead. The utilization of homestead is very important. Intensive crop cultivation with high yielding varieties to fulfil food demand for a swelling population has led to mining out the inherent plant nutrients from the soil. An experiment was conducted with tomato-okra-stem amaranth cropping pattern in a homestead area in Chhiata Series of Grey Terrace Soil (Aric Albaquept) under AEZ- 28 at Gazipur to find out the optimum dose of chemical fertilizer and organic manure for obtaining higher crop yield and to study the effect of integrated nutrient management (INM) on soil properties. The experiment consisted of eight treatments: T 1 (Poultry manure, PM @ 5 t ha -1), T 2 (Cowdung, CD @ 10 t ha -1), T 3 (Household waste, HW @ 10 t ha -1), T 4 (PM @ 2.5 t ha -1 + reduced recommended dose of fertilizer, RDF), T 5 (CD @ 5 t ha -1 + reduced RDF), T 6 (HW @ 5 t ha -1 + reduced RDF), T 7 (100% RDF) and T 8 (Control). Among the treatments, 2.5 ton poultry manure along with reduced rate of RDF performed the best in recording yields of tomato, okra and stem amaranth. Next to PM, HW @ 5 t ha -1 + reduced RDF had better results in respect of yield. Bulk density and organic C were improved by the application of organic manure; the highest nutrients uptake and availability was found in T 4 followed by T 6

Residual Effects of Organic Manures with Different Levels of Chemical Fertilizers on Rice

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the residual effects of organic manures and different level of recommended fertilizer dose (RFD) on the yield and nutrient uptake of BBRI dhan29 at the Soil Science Field Laboratory of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh. The experiment containing seven treatments were laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The treatments were T0 (Control), T1 (100% RFD), T2 (75% RFD + residual effect of CD 5 t ha⁻¹), T3 (75% RFD + residual effect of PM 3 t ha⁻¹), T4 (75% RFD + residual effect of residual effect of Com. 5 t ha⁻¹), T5 (75% RFD + residual effect of CD 2.5 t ha⁻¹, PM 1.5 t ha⁻¹, and Com 2.5 t ha⁻¹) and T6 (50% RFD + residual effect of CD 2.5 t ha⁻¹, PM 1.5 t ha⁻¹, and Com. 2.5 t ha⁻¹). The manures viz. cowdung (CD), poultry manure (PD) and compost (Com.) was applied to the previous crop (T. Aman rice). The recommended doses of fertilizers were used to supply N, P, K and S @ 140, 15, 60 and 15 kg ha⁻¹, respectively to the present crop. Residual effects of organic manure with inorganic fertilizers significantly increased the yield attributes as well as grain and straw yields of rice. Treatment T6 (50% RFD + residual effect of CD 2.5 t ha-1, PM 1.5 t ha⁻¹, and Com. 2.5 t ha⁻¹) produced the highest grain yield (6.87 t ha⁻¹) and straw yield (7.24 t ha⁻¹). The lowest grain yield (3.22 t ha⁻¹) and straw yield (4.55 t ha⁻¹) were found in T0 (Control) treatment. Further, it was observed that T2 (75% RFD + CD 5 t ha⁻¹) performed better compared to T3 (75% RFD + PM 3 t ha⁻¹) and T4 (75% RFD + Com 5 t ha⁻¹) in exerting residual effects. The NPKS contents and uptake were markedly influenced by residual effects of manures and fertilizers. Therefore, treatment T6 receiving 50% RFD along with the residual effect of 2.5 t ha⁻¹cowdung, 1.5 t ha⁻¹ poultry manure and 2.5 t ha⁻¹ 1 compost was found to be the best combination of organic and inorganic fertilizers for obtaining the maximum yield of BRRI dhan2

Residual effects of organic manures with different levels of chemical fertilizers on rice

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the residual effects of organic manures and different level of recommended fertilizer dose (RFD) on the yield and nutrient uptake of BBRI dhan29 at the Soil Science Field Laboratory of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh. The experiment containing seven treatments were laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The treatments were T0 (Control), T1 (100% RFD), T2 (75% RFD + residual effect of CD 5 t ha-1), T3 (75% RFD + residual effect of PM 3 t ha-1), T4 (75% RFD + residual effect of residual effect of Com. 5 t ha-1), T5 (75% RFD + residual effect of CD 2.5 t ha-1, PM 1.5 t ha-1, and Com 2.5 t ha-1) and T6 (50% RFD + residual effect of CD 2.5 t ha-1, PM 1.5 t ha-1, and Com. 2.5 t ha-1). The manures viz. cowdung (CD), poultry manure (PD) and compost (Com.) was applied to the previous crop (T. Aman rice). The recommended doses of fertilizers were used to supply N, P, K and S @ 140, 15, 60 and 15 kg ha-1, respectively to the present crop. Residual effects of organic manure with inorganic fertilizers significantly increased the yield attributes as well as grain and straw yields of rice. Treatment T6 (50% RFD + residual effect of CD 2.5 t ha-1, PM 1.5 t ha-1, and Com. 2.5 t ha-1) produced the highest grain yield (6.87 t ha-1) and straw yield (7.24 t ha-1). The lowest grain yield (3.22 t ha-1) and straw yield (4.55 t ha-1) were found in T0 (Control) treatment. Further, it was observed that T2 (75% RFD + CD 5 t ha-1) performed better compared to T3 (75% RFD + PM 3 t ha-1) and T4 (75% RFD + Com 5 t ha-1) in exerting residual effects. The NPKS contents and uptake were markedly influenced by residual effects of manures and fertilizers. Therefore, treatment T6 receiving 50% RFD along with the residual effect of 2.5 t ha-1 cowdung, 1.5 t ha-1 poultry manure and 2.5 t ha-1 compost was found to be the best combination of organic and inorganic fertilizers for obtaining the maximum yield of BRRI dhan29

Long - term conservation agriculture increases nitrogen use efficiency by crops, land equivalent ratio and soil carbon stock in a subtropical rice - based cropping system

Conservation Agriculture (CA) is still a relatively new approach for intensively cultivated (3 crops yr-1) rice-based cropping systems that produce high crop yield and amounts of residues annually. With the recent development of transplanting of rice into tilled strips on non-puddled soil, CA could become feasible for rice-based cropping patterns. However, the effect of increased retention of crop residues on crop response to nitrogen (N) fertilization rate in strip tilled systems with the transplanted rice and other crops grown in the annual rotation is yet to be determined. For nine years, we have examined the effects of soil disturbance levels - strip tillage (ST) and conventional tillage (CT), two residue retention levels –15% residue by height (low residue, LR) and 30% residue (high residue, HR) and five N rates (60%, 80%, 100%, 120%, and 140% of the recommended N fertilizer doses (RFD)) for a rice-wheat-mungbean cropping sequence. The 100% RFD was 75, 100 and 20 kg N ha-1for rice, wheat, and mungbean, respectively. Rice yields were comparable between the two tillage systems for up to year-6, wheat for up to year-3 but mungbean yield markedly increased in ST from year-1; however, the land equivalent ratio increased from year-1, principally because of higher mungbean yield. Introduction of ST increased land equivalent ratio by 26% relative to CT, N use efficiency and partial factor productivity. Nitrogen fertilizer demand for maximum yield in ST was increased by about 10% for rice and 5% for mungbean but decreased by 5% for wheat. Although fertilizer N demand had increased in ST system due to higher yield than CT, the N requirement declined by50–90% when the same yield goal is considered for ST as for CT. The soil organic carbon stock (0–15 cm) after 8 years increased from 21.5 to 30.5 t ha-1 due to the effect of ST plus high crop residue retention. Annual gross margin increased by 57% in ST over CT practice and 26% in HR over LR retention. In conclusion, after 9 years practicing CA with increased residue retention under strip tillage, the crops had higher N use efficiency, grain yield, land equivalent ratio and annual gross margin in the rice-wheat-mungbean cropping system while the N fertilizer requirement increased minimally

Zinc reactions and availability in soil

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