Abstract

• Today fertilizer has become essential to modern agriculture to feed the growing population.This research work concerns with studies on the preparation of organic fertilizers from rice straw, chicken manure and neem leaves, on the growth and yield of the selected crops: chilli and onion. The crops (chilli and onion) were cultivated in the farm (Kun Chan Village, Taungdwingyi Township, Magway Region). The organic fertilizers were prepared by five different weight ratios (1:1:1) (rice straw , chicken manure, neem leaves ) for OF-1 (organic fertilizer 1), (8 : 3 :1) for OF-2 , (8 : 1 : 3) for OF-3, (12.5 : 1.5 : 1) for OF-4, (12.5:1 : 1.5) for OF-5. The NPK content OF-1 contains (2.17%, 1.52%, 1.66%), OF-2 (1.70%, 0.83%, 1.48%), OF-3 (1.73%, 0.69%, 1.37%), OF-4 (1.56%, 0.91%, 1.35%), OF-5 (1.24%, 0.85%, 1.06%). The NPK content of OF-1 is highest among five organic fertilizers. The K content of OF-2 is higher than OF- 3, OF- 4 and OF-5. OF-1 was chosen for chilli plant because these plants require abundant N, P, K ratio. OF-2 was chosen for onion plant because these plants require abundant P, K and fair N. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block (RCB) design. There are two treatments and three replications, T-1 (control without fertilizer), T-2, T-3, T-4 (OF-1 for chilli plant and OF-2 for onion plant). In this experiment, soil sample analysis before cultivation and after harvesting, determination of plant height during cultivation and after harvesting, the yield components such as number of fruits per plant and weight of fruits were measured and yields were estimated. The total N and organic carbon contents of soil sample 1, 2 and 3 are (0.09%, 0.24%, 0.21%) and (0.68%, 1.69%, 1.39%) before cultivation. After chilli plant was harvested, the total N and organic carbon content of T-1,2,3,4 (OF-1, 6 t/ha) are (0.05%, 0.21%, 0.24%, 0.20%) and (0.60%, 1.56%, 1.55%, 1.57%). After onion plant was harvested, the total N and organic carbon content of T-1,2,3,4 (OF-2, 6 kgha-1) are (0.06%, 0.22%, 0.22%, 0.23%) and (0.63%, 1.48%, 1.40%, 1.49%). Field studies showed that the fresh weight yield of chilli; T-1 (3988.12 kg/ha), T-2 (55331.59 kg/ ha), T-3 (61064.64 kg/ha) and T-4 (61396.98 kg/ha). The dry weight yield of chilli; T-1 (516.45 kg/ha), T-2 (8320.54 kg/ha), T-3 (9163.12 kg/ha) and T-4 (10185.49 kg/ha). The yield of the onion; T-1 (16710.57 kg/ha), T-2 (53116.07 kg/ha), T-3 (54010.45 kg/ha) and T-4 (51280.26 kg/ha). From the field work investigations, it was observed that rice straw based organic fertilizer promoted plant growth, and also enhanced the growth yield of the crops. The results indicated that the rice straw based organic fertilizer should increase soil fertility and was suitable for better production of chilli and onion.