To work out the integrated nutrient management on growth, yield nutrient uptake and soil nutrient status of summer green gram (Vigna radiata L.)

Introduction

Summer green gram (Vigna radiata L.) is a warm-season legume crop widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions for its high protein content, nutritional value, and adaptability to diverse environments. As a vital component of sustainable agriculture, summer green gram plays a crucial role in maintaining soil fertility, reducing soil erosion, and supporting biodiversity. However, its production is often constrained by inadequate nutrient management, leading to reduced yields, poor soil health, and decreased crop resilience. Numerous studies have highlighted the importance of balanced nutrient management for optimal summer green gram production. For instance, Singh et al. (2017) [5] demonstrated that nitrogen and phosphorus application significantly enhanced summer green gram yields. Similarly, found that organic amendments like compost and green manure improved soil fertility and summer green gram productivity. Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) has emerged as a promising approach to optimize nutrient use efficiency, minimize environmental degradation, and enhance crop productivity. INM involves the judicious combination of organic and inorganic nutrient sources, conservation tillage, and crop rotation to create a balanced nutrient cycle. However, the effects of INM on summer green gram production have not been extensively explored. A few studies have investigated the impact of INM on legume crops, including green gram. For example, a study found that INM significantly improved soil organic carbon, available phosphorus, and potassium in a green gram-wheat cropping system. Similarly, reported increased green gram yields and improved soil nutrient status under INM. Despite these findings, there is a need for further research on the specific effects of INM on summer green gram production, particularly in tropical regions. This study aims to investigate the impact of INM on summer green gram's growth, yield, nutrient uptake, and soil nutrient status, providing insights into the feasibility of INM as a sustainable approach to optimize summer green gram production and maintain soil fertility.

Review of Literature

Yield attributes and yields: Studied the effect of inorganic and biofertilizers on growth and yield of cowpea. They found that application of 125% RDF showed significantly higher growth and yield contributing characters viz. plant height (92.8 cm), dry matter/ plant (23.6 g) and no. of seeds/plant (66.1), no. of pods/plant (8.6), pod yield/plant (7.98 g), seed yield kg/ha (1564), straw yield (3881 kg/ha) and seed index (8.7 g) over the application of 75% RDF. Singh et al. (2017) [5] studied the integrated nutrient management for high productivity and net returns in lentil crop. They revealed that pods/plant were highest in RDF + Rhizobium + PSB. Combination of different organic sources with RDF resulted in significantly higher grain yield than RDF alone. Sushil et al. (2015) [6] conducted a field experiment at Allahabad (U.P.) on green gram [Vigna radiate (L.)]".

Results indicated that the application of 100% RDF + vermicompost @ 1.25 t/ha + Azatobactor @ 375 g/ha recorded significantly higher number of seeds/pod (14.77), number of seeds per plant (342.74), seed yield per plant (14.80 g), seed yield per ha (1139.46 kg), thousand seed weight (42.52 g), Number of pods/plant (24.77) germination (99.90%)

Materials and Methods Study Area:

The experiment was conducted during Rabi 2023-24 at Research Farm, Mewar University, Chittorgarh. Geographically, the study area is located at 075o 88'99" E longitude and 26o 81'17" N latitude and this region falls under agro-climatic zone IV A of Rajasthan. 3.2 Climate and weather conditions the region has typically semi-arid climate characterized by dryness of atmosphere. The annual rainfall of the zone varies between 350 and 450 mm. In which most of received from July to September. The temperature may go as high as 48 °C during summer and it may fall below freezing point during winter. Weather acts as input, influencing the growth, yield and quality of crops as well as biotic phase of soil during season. Hence, it is important to present climatic variable in this context. The mean weekly data for temperature, relative humidity and rainfall recorded of the crop season Experimental details (Design and layout): The presented experiment consisting of 10 treatment combinations was carried out in Randomized Block Design (RBD).

Characteristics of variety:

Application of FYM

FYM was applied as per treatments before sowing and thoroughly incorporated with the help of spade in soil. 1 and fig. 2) indicated that integrated nutrient management significantly improved numbers of pods plant-1 of cowpea. The highest numbers of pods plant-1 (11.21) were observed under treatment 75% RDF + Vermicompost @ 1 t ha -1 + PSB + Rhizobium (T 10 ) to rest of the treatments and which was found to be statistically at par with 50% RDF +1 t/ha Vermicompost + PSB + Rhizobium (T 6 ). The lowest numbers of pods (8.77) were found in treatment T 0 (Control). Number of seeds pod-1 The data presented in and fig. 1) revealed that significantly numbers of seeds pod-1 of cowpea. The numbers of seeds pod-1 (14.80) at 40 DAS were observed in treatment 75% RDF + Vermicompost @ 1 t ha -1 + PSB + Rhizobium (T 10 ) to rest of the treatments and which was found to be statistically at par with 50% RDF +1 t/ha Vermicompost + PSB + Rhizobium (T 6 ). Significantly lowest numbers of seed pods-1 were found in treatment T 1 (Control) 3 and fig. 2) regarding yields of cowpea. that significantly highest seed yield (1280.91 kg ha -1 ) was observed under the application of 75% RDF + Vermicompost @ 1 t ha -1 + PSB + Rhizobium (T 10 ) to rest of the treatments and which was found to be statistically at par with 50% RDF +1 t/ha Vermicompost + PSB + Rhizobium (T 6 ). Significantly lowest numbers of seed pods-1 (1051.24 kg ha -1 ) were found in treatment T 1 (Control). 4.2.5 Straw yield Perusal of data (Table 3 and fig. 2) revealed that significantly highest straw yield (2471.96 kg ha -1 ) was observed due to application of 75% RDF + Vermicompost @ 1 t ha -1 + PSB + Rhizobium (T 10 ) to rest of the treatments and which was found to be statistically at par with 50% RDF +1 t/ha Vermicompost + PSB + Rhizobium (T 6 ). Significantly lowest numbers of seed pods-1 (2824.32 kg ha -1 ) were found in treatment T 1 (Control). 4.2.6 Biological yield Data (Table 3 and fig. 2) showed that significantly highest biological yield (3751 kg ha -1 ) was found with the treatment of 75% RDF + Vermicompost @ 1 t ha -1 + PSB + Rhizobium (T 10 ) to rest of the treatments and which was found to be statistically at par with 50% RDF +1 t/ha Vermicompost + PSB + Rhizobium (T 6 ). Significantly lowest biological yield (1773.32 kg ha -1 ) was recorded under treatment T 0 (Control). 4.2.7 Harvest index (%) Data presented in (Table 3 and Fig. 2) pertaining to harvest index did not show significant difference among different nutrient sources.

Treatments Yields

Harvest index (%) Seed yield (q ha -1 ) Stover yield (q ha -1 ) Biological yield (q ha -1 ) T1

Discussion

Yield attributes, yields and economics Results presented in table 3 and figure 3 showed that yield attributes viz., number of pods plant-1, number of seeds pod-1 and test weight improved by application of 75% RDF + Vermicompost @ 1 t ha -1 + PSB + Rhizobium (T 10 ) as 53 compared to other treatments but statistically remained at par with 50% RDF + Vermicompost @ 1 t ha -1 + PSB + Rhizobium (T 6 ). This could mainly be associated with the increased growth of the crop in terms of plant height, dry matter accumulation and higher number of branches recorded under these treatments due to greater availability of most of the macro and micro nutrients in appropriate amounts and balanced proportion that led to higher uptake of the nutrients. The increased growth provided greater site for photosynthesis and diversion of photosynthates towards sink. The beneficial effect on yield attributes might also be due to the increased supply of all the essential nutrients by inorganic fertilizer, vermicompost, biofertilizer and FYM that might have resulted in higher manufacture of food and its subsequent partitioning towards sink. The findings of present investigation are supported by Muindi et al. (2019) [2] . Significantly higher seed yield was obtained by the application of 75% RDF + Vermicompost @ 1 t ha -1 + PSB + Rhizobium (T 10 ) as compared to other treatments except 50% RDF + Vermicompost @ 1 t ha -1 + PSB + Rhizobium (T 6 ). (Table 3). The higher values of yield attributes like number of pods plant-1, number of seeds pod-1 and test weight coupled with the higher crop dry matter observed with these treatments might have been the most probable reason of higher seed and straw yield. The increase in seed yield of green gram with these treatments was also largely due to high harvest index that showed high partitioning of the plant assimilates towards the sink (Table 3). Since, application of 75% RDF + Vermicompost @ 1 t ha -1 + PSB + Rhizobium (T 10 ) significantly increased the growth parameters viz., plant height, dry matter accumulation and number of branches planr-1, the resultant effect of these parameters might have also produced higher straw yield. Since, biological yield is a sum of seed and straw yields, the improvement in these parameters as discussed above also enhanced the biological yield significantly due to these treatments. Significantly higher net returns achieved with the application of 10075% RDF + Vermicompost @ 1 t ha -1 + PSB + Rhizobium (T 10 ) which are directly correlated with the considerably higher seed and straw yields corresponding to 54 these treatments. Slightly lower net returns and B:C ratio recorded under the treatment involving 75% RDF +

References

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