Effect of Mulching on Growth and Yield of Moringa under Drought Stress Conditions

The study comprised two conditions, rainy/excess water and dry/water shortage, and five mulch treatments: no mulch, straw, normal polythene, AgroSal polythene and leaves. The experiment followed a factorial randomized complete block design with three replications. Growth and yield attributes were assessed at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after transplanting, together with 1000-seed weight. At 24 months, AgroSal mulch produced the highest plant height (3.43 m), crown spread (2.14 m) and cluster number (149.33 plant−1), whereas normal polythene produced the highest pod number (65.67 plant−1). Under dry conditions, normal polythene increased pod number from 56.00 to 69.67 plant−1, a 24.4% increase over no mulch. Under the same conditions, AgroSal increased plant height from 3.01 to 3.36 m and pod length from 39.39 to 50.27 cm. Leaf mulch produced the highest dry-condition leaf weight (192.03 g) and pod weight (174.47 g), although its leaf-weight advantage over the dry unmulched control was not significant. Polythene mulches showed advantages for several pod and structural traits, while leaf mulch was promising for foliage production. Using pod number and mean mass per pod, estimated 24-month pod yield under dry conditions was 11.71 kg plant−1 with normal polythene versus 9.02 kg plant−1 without mulch, equivalent to 18.74 and 14.44 t ha−1 at a nominal density of 1,600 plants ha−1. These estimates describe seasonal performance and do not quantify drought severity or water-use efficiency. Bangladesh Agron. J. 2026, 29(1): 61–70