Performance of spices as lower-storey crop in jackfruit-papaya multistorey agroforestry system in Bangladesh

Jackfruit tree associated agroforestry systems are dominating in terrace ecosystem of Bangladesh, which are poorly managed by the farmers. As a result, real benefits of the systems are untapped. An On- Farm experiment was conducted during April 2017 to April 2018 in jackfruit orchards by transforming into multistorey agroforestry system (MAFS) in terrace ecosystem of Bangladesh to evaluate the productivity, economic and ecological performances of the system. Three spices (turmeric, ginger and chili) and papaya were grown as lower- and middle-storey crops, respectively. Established jackfruit trees were kept as top- storey crop. Four distances from tree base (1 m, 2 m, 3 m, and 4 m) and open field (non-agroforestry) were considered for the performances of spice crops, while performances of papaya and jackfruit were compared between agroforestry and non-agroforestry systems. The findings of the study revealed that the yields of chili and papaya were reduced by 15.06% and 26.83%, respectively, in MAFS than non-agroforestry. In contrast, the yields of turmeric, ginger and jackfruit were increased by 8.19%, 14.72%, and 27.06%, respectively. Results also showed that understory crop yields were increased with increasing distances from tree base. Light availability on understory crops varied between 15 and 35% at different distances from tree base. Soil moisture and soil temperature showed reverse pattern in agroforestry and non-agroforestry systems. Despite, some adverse effects on yield parameters of under-storey crops, the net return, benefit cost ratio (BCR) and land equivalent ratio (LER) were remarkably higher in MAFS than non-agroforestry system.