Assessing the Prospects of Agricultural Sustainability in Central Brahmaputra Floodplain Environment of Darrang District, Assam

Ensuring agricultural sustainability with escalating population is a real challenge before humanity. At present, heightened demand of state’s rich farmland for non-agricultural activities is posing a pressing need for assessing the prospects of agricultural sustainability. Being a part of central Brahmaputra floodplain in Assam, Sipajhar revenue circle of Darrang district has experienced extraordinary population pressure on land resources over time, which leads to vulnerability of agro-ecological conditions. As per census report, the circle has witnessed 108% increase of population over 40 years. The circle with diverse agriculture and its allied activities has borne the brunt of population pressure in some caste-community concentration areas. The present study assesses the prospects of agricultural sustainability across the gram panchayats of the circle on the basis of six sustainability indicators, namely castes and communities; agriculture and allied practices; spatial pattern of crop productivity; agricultural input–output relation; agro-ecological conditions; and sustainable methods of agriculture selected from social, economic and ecological dimensions of sustainable development. After synthesising these indicators, prospects of agricultural sustainability have been assigned to three groupings of gram panchayats in the circle. This investigation is also intended to provide a rationale for future orientation of agricultural planning in laggard districts like Darrang of Assam.

Optimum planting date for the maximum tuber yield of tropical sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) genotypes in the Old Brahmaputra Floodplain

Planting dates for a crop is a non-monetary input but plays a significant role in increasing the yield crop. Therefore, identifying genotype-specific planting dates is essential for obtaining the economic yield of tropical sugar beet. From this perspective, a field experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University in Bangladesh, from November 2015 to April 2016. Five sugar beet genotypes: Shubhra, Cauvery, EB-0616, EB-0626, and EB-0809 planted on four dates: 10, 20, 30 November, and 10 December. Treatments were laid out in a split-plot design replicated three times. Data revealed that planting on 10 November date, genotype EB-0809 produced the highest tuber yield, which was significantly superior to any other genotype combined with other planting dates. It was found that every ten days delay of planting from 10 November to 30 December reduced the tuber yield by 30, 43, and 55%, respectively. Results confirmed that planting the EB-0809 genotype on 10 November is ideal to obtain the highest tuber yield of tropical sugar beet in Bangladesh.