Pati-pata (Schumannianthus dichotoma)
belonging to the Family Marantaceae is one of
the important non – timber forest produces in
Bangladesh. It grows naturally in the swampy
areas as well as is cultivated in low-lying areas.
The stem of this shrub is used for the preparation
of mat, basket, bag and various novelty items
(Mohiuddin and Rashid 1988). The plant can be
grown using rhizome, branch cutting, rooted
cutting and seedling (Merry et al. 1997, Siddiqi et
al. 1998). However, the best performance was
obtained from planting rhizomes. It has been
reported that cultivation of pati-pata is more
profitable than that of paddy (Mohiuddin and
Rashid 1988). Thus fertilizer treatment was given
one year after planting before the monsoon to
observe its effect on the profitable enhancement in
yield. The treatment combinations of fertilizer
doses were as follows :
Tj = NPK each at 270 gm/plot
T, = NPK each at 540 gm/plot
T, = NPK each at 710 gm/plot
T() = No fertilizer (control)
The experiment was laid out in a
Randomized CompleteBlockDesign (RCBD) with
four replications at Bangladesh Forest Research
Institute campus, Chittagong. So, there were 16
plots each with a size of 4.5 m x 2 m. The plots