Enhancement of seed quality, growth and yield in blackgram through biological inputs

Introduction

Black gram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper]; Fabaceae is one of the most important pulses grown throughout the country that provides cheapest source of dietary protein of around 26 per cent. Black gram is one of the most highly prized pulses having its origin in India and it is believed to be in cultivation from ancient times (Kaur et al., 2024) [3] . The area of traditional cultivation of black gram is confined to the South Asia. The black gram yield was low because of different reasons that include poor management practices, various physiological, biochemical and inherent factors that were associated with the crop (De Lespinay et al., 2010) [6] . Organic substances are known to influence a wide array of physiological parameters like promotion of photosynthesis, uptake of nutrients, improved seed quality etc., (Sharma et al., 2013) [7] . Panchagavya, a traditional organic preparation derived from cow dung, milk, curd, ghee and coconut water is believed to have several beneficial effects on crops. Cow urine and goat urine contains nitrogen in the form of urea that also acts as a natural disinfectant. Azospirillum and vermiwash creates a potent organic growth stimulant that enhances nitrogen availability, hence a study was undertaken using all the techniques to assess the influence of biologicals on seed quality, growth and yield parameters in blackgram cv VBN 11.

Materials and Methods

Black gram seeds, VBN 11 were brought from National pulses research centre, Vamban, Tamil nadu. The biological products i.e., cow urine and goat urine were collected at Animal Husbandry division, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University. Azospirillum, vermiwash, and Rhizobium were collected from the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai university. Panchagavya was readily brought from the local farmers in Polivakkam, Thiruvallur. In order to prepare 6% solution, 6ml of cow urine, goat urine, panchagavya, vermiwash and 6 g of azospirillum, rhizobium each were taken separately and mixed individually in a beaker with 100 ml distilled water. The seeds were soaked in equal volume of 1:1 solution for 4 hours. The soaked seeds were dried back in original moisture content. The Field trial was conducted at farmer field, Polivakkam village in Thiruvallur. The laboratory experiment was carried out at the PG Laboratory, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Chidambaram. The technique of random sampling was adopted for recording various characters in black gram. T 0: Control (Without treatment) T 1: 6% Cow urine T 2: 6% Vermiwash T 3: 6% Panchagavya T 4: 6% Rhizobium T 5: 6% Goat urine T 6: 6% Azospirillium

Results and Discussion

In the current experimental study it was noticed that black gram seeds when treated with 6% panchagavya showed higher seed quality parameters such germination percentage (94%), root length (13.93 cm), shoot length (25.83 cm), seedling length (42.20 cm), seedling dry weight (0.49 g), vigour index I (3966.80) and vigour index II (46.06) over control (Table 1). These results were agreed with the findings of Srimathi et al. (2014) [1] in biofeul crop, vijaya and krishnasamy (2014) in rice crop. The highest germination percentage may be due to that panchagavya contains beneficial micro organisms that produce plant growth promoting substances. Improved root length is due to the essential macro and micro nutrients that are crucial for root initiation and elongation. The hiked shoot length when treated with panchagavya was due to the presence of phytohormones that enhance metabolic activity and thus supports better growth. The plant growth promoting substances in panchagavya favours the rapid cell division and cell multiplication leads to the increased shoot length (vennela and jayanthi, 2008) [10] . The enhanced vigour index is linked to the rich composition of panchagava, that contains plant growth promoters i.e., Natural auxins (IAA) and gibberellins (GA), beneficial microbes and vitamins, micro and macro nutrients and amino acids (Srinivasareddy A and Chaurasia AK, 2021) [5] . The seeds that were hardened with 6% panchagavya showed the higher values for the plant growth and yield parameters viz., field emergence (94.00%), plant height (40.12 cm), days to first flowering (24.70), days to 50% flowering (32.59), number of branches/plant (5.07), number of pods/plant (33.64), seed yield/ha (1246.96 kg) and 100 seed weight (6.23) over control (Table 2). These results are in conformity with findings of Vijayan and Krishnasamy (2014) [2] in rice. The increase in the above growth and yield parameters was due to the auxins in panchagavya, that attributes to the activation of cell division and extensibility of cell wall in the auxillary buds that had a enhancing effect in number of branches, leaves and also the other growth parameters in mung bean (Suchith Kumar C and Singh G, 2020) [8] . According to Prabhu et al. (2010) the application of panchagavya to seed might have induced the endogenous synthesis of native auxins results in an early active growth in plants. Panchagavya improves crop yield by enhancing multiple yield parameters through its rich content of beneficial micro organisms, nutrients and natural growth hormones (Patel et al., 2018) [9] . Its application, contains IAA and GA 3 and cytokinins stimulates plant growth leading to increased branching biomass and better fruiting. Plants treated with panchagavya develop bigger leaves and denser canopy boosting photosynthesis and metabolic synthesis necessary for fruit and grain development (Shakunthala et al., 2012) [4] .

Conclusion

This study concludes that seeds hardened with 6% panchagavya recorded higher seed quality, plant growth and yield parameters in black gram. The manifestation of seed quality through the usage of 6% panchagavya is confirmed and it can be recommended for quality seed production in black gram.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementI wish to extend my heartfelt gratitude for unwavering support and guidance to all individuals who contributed to the successful completion. My special thanks to my chairperson, Dr. S. Padmavathi, Professor, Department of Genetics and Plant breeding for her motivation.

References

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