USE OF INDUSTRIES BYPRODUCT AS AN ALTERNATIVE LIQUID FERTILIZER IN SOILLESS CULTURE AND ITS EFFECT ON SWEET PEPPER OF INDUSTRIES BYPRODUCT AS AN ALTERNATIVE LIQUID FERTILIZER IN SOILLESS CULTURE AND ITS EFFECT ON SWEET PEPPER.”

There is a gaining interest in reducing the production cost of agricultural crops. Salt industries byproduct (SIB) can reduce production cost as it is a cheaper fertilizer source. SIB is the effluent of salt industries. But there is no research on its effects in agricultural crop production in Bangladesh. Therefore, it is important to identify the dose of SIB in sweet pepper/capsicum in Bangladesh. In this study, growth and yield parameters in sweet pepper by applying different doses of SIB were investigated. Five concentrations of salt industries byproduct (SIB) are considered as treatments, viz. S 1 = ¾ strength Rahman and Inden (2012) + 0 ml.L -1 SIB, S 2 = ¾ strength Rahman and Inden (2012) + 0.25 ml.L -1 SIB, S 3 = ¾ strength Rahman and Inden (2012) + 0.5 ml.L -1 SIB, S 4 = ¾ strength Rahman and Inden (2012) + 0.75 ml.L -1 SIB and S 5 = ¾ strength Rahman and Inden (2012) + 1.0 ml.L -1 SIB. Different concentrations of salt industries by product showed significant variation in most of the parameters. The highest plant height, the maximum number of fruit/plants, individual fruit weight, fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit volume, and yield were found highest in S 3 . But all the parameters were drastically reduced when S 5 treatment was applied. Therefore, S 3 treatment can be used for sweet pepper cultivation in soilless culture system in Bangladesh.


Introduction
Sweet pepper (Capsicum annum L.) is a flowering plant under the genus Capsicum and belongs to the family Solanaceae. In Bangladesh it is commonly known as capsicum. It is relatively non- pungent with thick flesh and is the world's second most important vegetable after tomato (AVRDC, 1989). Brazil is thought to be the original home of pepper (Shoemaker and Teskey, 1995). Capsicum can be considered a functional food, because it contains many health-promoting phytochemicals such as vitamins A, B, C, E, phenolic compounds, carotenoids, and capsaicin (Bloch and Thomson, 1995). These compounds are reported to have antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antimutagenic, anti-aging, and antibacterial properties (Chu et al., 2002;Surh, 2002). In addition to their role in defense against human diseases, antioxidants have an important role in plant defense and are produced in response to both biotic and abiotic stresses (Sakihamaet al., 2002;Slater et al., 2003).
There is increasing attention being given toward reducing the production cost of agricultural crops. Salt industries byproduct can reduce production cost as it contains many macronutrients, especially calcium (Ca 2+ ), magnesium (Mg 2+ ), and micronutrients. Salt industries byproduct is the effluent of salt industries and cheaper than commercial fertilizers. Salt industries byproduct contains sodium (Na + ) that may impose mild salinity, but it also contains some silicon (Si) that may minimize the negative effects of salinity. Bradbury and Ahmad (1990) and Liang et al. (1996) reported that Si minimized the adverse effects of salinity. Ca 2+ plays a key role in plant growth and fruit development and is involved in many biochemical and physiological processes (Saure, 2005). Significant economic losses of horticultural crops have been linked to inadequate Ca 2+ nutrition (Grattan and Grieve, 1999). Salt industries byproduct can supply adequate Ca 2+ and other micronutrients to sweet peppers. Thus, it can reduce fertilizer input and make agricultural practices more sustainable. However, there has been no research on salt industries byproduct application effects on crop production. Therefore, the present research work was aimed to study with the following objectives: • To evaluate the effect of salt industries byproduct on growth and yield of capsicum, and • To identify the suitable dose of salt industries byproduct in soilless capsicum. Experimental Environment: The seeds were sown in the seed bed prepared by the media mixture of coco peat, brick broken and rice husk at the ratio of 6:2:2 (v/v). Two-week-old seedlings were transferred into the 250-mL plastic pots. Eight-week-old seedlings were transferred 20-cm apart into the cork-sheet boxes containing media mixtures of coco peat, brick broken and rice husk at the ratio of 6:2:2 (v/v). The 150-cm × 25-cm × 30-cm cork sheet boxes were prepared by corksheets. The boxes were filled with the media mixture of coco peat, brick broken and rice husk at

Growing Media Preparation for Seedling Rising:
The mixture of coco peat, broken bricks (khoa) and ash at the ratio of 50:30:20% (v/v). Coco peat was soaked in a big bowl for 24 hours. It was washed well with water and spread in a polythene sheet for 3 hours. Then they are mixed with khoa and ash properly. This mixer was placed in a Styrofoam sheet box for using seedbed.

Seed Sowing:
The seeds were soaked in water for 24 hours and then wrapped with piece of thin cloth. The socked seed were then spread over polythene sheet for 2 hours to dry out the surface water. After that seeds were sown in growing substrate and covered newspaper under room temperature for rising Transplanting of Sweet Pepper Seedling: Sweet pepper seedlings were transplanted into the pots containing media mixtures mixture of coco peat, khoa and ash. Healthy capsicum seedlings were selected for transplanting. Capsicum plants were transplanted carefully so that roots were not damaged. After transplanting of capsicum plant in the pots light watering was done with sprayer.
Data Collection: Data were collected on different growth and yield components, viz., plant height at different days after planting, fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit volume, number of fruits per plant, individual fruit weight and fruit yield per plant.
Statistical Analysis: Data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SPSS software and the differences among means were determined using Tukey's test at 5% level of probability. (2012) + 0.5 mlL -1 SIB) treatment (Table 15). Meanwhile, the lowest plant heights were found in S5 (¾ strength Rahman and Inden (2012) + 1.0 mlL -1 SIB) treatment (Table 1). This result revealed that the greater plant height was found in the S3 treatment compared to others. However, the mechanism for improvement of plant height due to application of S3 treatments not clear, but the positive impact of SIB is due to the presence of rather high amounts of Ca 2+ and Si, which might have contributed to reduce Na + absorption sites. Bradbury and Ahmad (1990) and Liang et al. (1996) reported that Si minimized the effects of salinity in Prosopis julifloraand barley, respectively. Calcium sulfate counteracted the toxic effect of NaCl, resulting in greater plant height and leaf number of salts treated Leucaena leucocephalaplant (Hansen and Munns, 1988). Salt industries byproduct (SIB) contains a higher amount of Ca 2+ which may able to counteract the toxic effects of Na + when applied at the rate of 1.0 mlL -1 .

Number of Fruit Per Plant:
Significant variation was observed among S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5 treatments in terms of number of fruits per plant (Figure 1). The maximum number of fruits per plant (9.0) was found in S3 whereas the lowest (3.0) was found in S5 treatment ( Figure 2 Figure 2). This might be because of proper supply of nutrient in the plants. Shinohara et al. (1978) stated that sweet pepper growth was affected by different strength of nutrient solutions. The present finding was consisted with the findings of Shinohara et al. (1978). In the present study, S3 can supply proper amount in available forms of nutrients to the plants resulting higher fruit weight.   Table 2). The highest dry weights of leaf stem and root was found in S3 treatment. Meanwhile, dry weights of plants drastically decreased at S5. This might be due to proper supply of nutrient solution to the plants. S2 treatment containing higher Ca 2+ which contributed to higher dry weights. On the contrary, S5 treatment contain highest amount of Ca 2+ compared to other treatments, but it has salinity stress resulting lower dry weight. Epstein and Bloom (2005) reported that Ca 2+ increased the root dry weight and calcium content in plant tissues. The present findings consisted with the other findings. and Clough (1998) also observed that marketable yield of pepper increased due to increased Ca 2+ , mainly because of decrease in BER-affected fruits.
In conclusion, plant growth and yield contributing characters were higher when applied ¾ Rahman and Inden (2012) + 0.5 ml.L -1 SIB. Therefore ¾ Rahman and Inden (2012) + 0.5 ml.LSIB can be applied in capsicum with high yield in minimum cost of production.