Effect of different liquid organic manures on growth and yield of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Introduction

Pulses play an important role in Indian agriculture and India is largest producer and consumer of pulses in the world. In India, pulses account for 20.14% (277 lakh hectares) of total area under food grain production (1375 lakh hectares) (www.indiastat.in. 2024-25). Chickpea is a key legume with nutritious seeds. (Chouhan and Khan, 2024) Chickpea is a quantitative long-day legume crop of the fabaceae family and faboideae subfamily, chickpeas are grown during the chilly season. (Sridhara et al., 2024) [5] . Nutritional composition of chickpea is 38 to 59 per cent carbohydrates, 22 to 24 per cent protein, 3 per cent fiber, 4.8 to 5.5 per cent oil, 3 per cent ash, 0.2 per cent calcium and 0.3 per cent phosphorus (www. fao.in).). In India, chickpea is cultivated under an area of 9.12 million hectares with a production of 11.11 million tonnes of seed. In India, average chickpea productivity is 1218 kg ha -1 (www.indiastat.in, 2024-25). Hazards like soil salinization, soil erosion, reduction in the groundwater levels and desertification have increased rapidly over the last four decades with continuous practice of intensive farming techniques, whose eye is primarily on increasing production with the least focus on sustainability (Kumar et al., 2024) [1] . Hence, there is a need to improve productivity under the organic production system by enhancing soil fertility and productivity with increasing soil organic carbon, soil moisture storage capacity of crops at different stages. Organic soil conditioners rich in N, P, and K, calcium, magnesium, chloride, sulphates, growth hormones, and a sufficient load of microbial mobilizers and solubilizers are cattle-based products such as cow urine and panchagavya. Foliar spraying involves the application of nutrient-rich liquid solutions directly onto plant leaves, enabling the absorption of essential nutrients through foliar tissues. This method significantly reduces nutrient losses typically associated with soil application, such as absorption and leaching under conventional moisture conditions (Rathika et al., 2025) [2] . Organic foliar sprays supply growthpromoting substances, micronutrients, and beneficial microbes that enhance germination, growth, photosynthesis, and yield, while also improving stress tolerance and reducing dependence on chemicals. Hence the present study was carried to evaluate the effect of liquid organic manures on growth and yield of chickpea.

Materials and Methods

A field experiment was conducted at College Farm, Agricultural college, Mahanandi of Acharya N. G, Ranga Agricultural University which is geographically situated at 15.51 o N latitude, 78.61 o E longitude with an altitude of 233 meters above the mean sea level which comes under Scarce Rainfall Zone of Andhra Pradesh and according to Troll's classification, it falls under Semi-Arid Tropics (SAT). The soil was sandy loam in texture with pH of 7.5, low organic carbon content (0.44%), low in nitrogen (144.5 kg ha -1 ), medium in available phosphorus (22.4 kg ha -1 ) and high in available potassium (550.4 kg ha -1 ). The experiment was carried out with eleven treatments replicated thrice in randomized block design. The treatments evaluated in the experiment are foliar application of panchagavya @ 3% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 1 ), foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 2 ), foliar application of panchagavya @ 3% + cow urine @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 3 ), foliar application of panchagavya @ 3% + vermiwash @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 4 ), foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + cow urine @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 5 ), foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + vermiwash @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 6 ), foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + cow urine @ 20% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 7 ) foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + vermiwash @ 20% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 8 ), foliar application of jeevamrutham @ 5% during vegetative stage + @ 7.5% during flowering stage + @ 10% pod development stage (T 9 ), absolute control (T 10 ), 100% RDF (T 11 ). In natural farming treatmental plots, soil application of ghanajeevamrutham @ 1000 kg ha -1 in two splits was done at basal and @ 25 DAS. Soil application of dravajeevamrutham @ 500 L ha -1 was done once in three week @ 3, 6 and 9 WAS. Observations on plant height, drymatter production, number of branches plant -1 at 30, 60 DAS and at harvest. seed and stover yield were recorded at harvest stage.

Results and Discussion

Initial and final plant population

During the present investigation, the impact of different nutrient management practices evaluated was found to be non-significant on initial and final plant population (Table 1). This might be due to the crop was sown under optimum soil moisture content, which creates congenial environment for better germination and crop establishment.

Plant height

Among the different nutrient management practices evaluated, significantly higher plant height was registered with application of 100% RDF (T 11 ) at all growth stages of chickpea. However, among the different natural farming practices tried, higher plant stature at 30, 60 DAS and at harvest was recorded with the foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + vermiwash @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 6 ), which was statistically comparable with the foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + vermiwash @ 20% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 8 ), foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + cow urine @ 20% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 7 ), foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + cow urine @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 5 ) foliar application of panchagavya @ 3% + vermiwash @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 4 ) and foliar application of panchagavya @ 3% + cow urine @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 3 ) (Table 1 and Fig. 1). This could be attributable to the IAA and GA present in panchagavya when applied as foliar spray create stimuli in the plant system and increase the production of growth regulators in the cell system and the action of growth regulators in plant system ultimately stimulated the necessary growth and development (Yogendra et al., 2024) [8] . However lower plant height at all the growth stages was recorded with the absolute control (T 10 ).

Number of branches plant -1

Among the different nutrient management practices investigated, higher number of branches plant -1 at 30, 60 DAS and at harvest was recorded with the application of 100% RDF (T 11 ). Among the different natural farming practices evaluated, foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + vermiwash @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 6 ) registered higher no. of branches plant -1 during 30, 60 DAS and at harvest and this was on a par with the foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + vermiwash @ 20% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 8 ) and foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + cow urine @ 20% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 7 ). This may be ascribed to the synergistic effect of vermiwash and panchagavya, both rich in beneficial microbes, growth hormones and micro nutrients appears to have enhanced nutrient absorption and photosynthetic efficiency (Sharma et al., 2024) [3] . These results are corroborated with those of Yuvarani et al., (2025) [9] . However, the lower number of branches per plant were recorded with absolute control (T 10 ) at all growth stages of crop (Table 2).

Drymatter production

During the present investigation based on different nutrient management practices, higher dry matter production was recorded with the application of 100% RDF (T 11 ) at all growth stages of crop (Table 2 and Fig. 2). Among the different natural farming practices tried, foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + vermiwash @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 6 ) recorded higher drymatter accumulation at 30, 60 DAS and at harvest which was statistically on a par with the foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + vermiwash @ 20% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 8 ). The increase in the drymatter accumulation in natural farming practices could be attributed to the inoculation of panchagavya supplied the plant with enough macro nutrients and micronutrient that are required for overall plant growth and development thus the application of panchagavya increased the drymatter production in plant (Sharma et al., 2024 b) [4] . The larger portion of nitrogen in vermiwash in organic fractions and presence of various salts that are rich in N, P, K, S and micro nutrients in plant available form might have increased the nutrient availability to the plants. The results are in parity with the findings of Yogendra et al. (2024) [8] and Yuvarani et al. (2024) [9] .

Seed and Stover yield

During the present study, seed and stover yield of chickpea were significantly influenced by the different nutrient management practices. Significantly higher seed and stover yield were recorded with the application of 100% RDF. Among the different natural farming practices evaluated, higher seed and stover yield were recorded with the foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + vermiwash @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 6 ), however, which was statistically on a par with the application of 100% RDF and foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + vermiwash @ 20% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage (T 8 ). The increase in the seed and stover yield in the different natural farming practices may be attributed to the combined application of vermiwash and panchagavya effectively supplied essential macro and micro nutrients and bioactive compounds, which promoted better pod formation and seed development. The improved dry matter partitioning towards reproductive organs led to the better grain yield (Yuvarani et al., 2025) [9] . Whereas, the lower seed and stover yield was registered with the absolute control (T 10 ) (Table 3 and Fig. 3). T1: Foliar application of panchagavya @ 3% during pre-flowering and pod formation stage 32.0 31.8 16.9 33.1 35.2 T2: Foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% during pre-flowering and pod formation stage 32.6 32.1 17.4 33.7 35.9 T3: Foliar application of panchagavya @ 3% + cow urine @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod formation stage 32.9 32.6 18.4 34.8 36.9 T4: Foliar application of panchagavya @ 3% + vermiwash @ 10% during and pod formation stage 32.0 31.8 18.9 35.4 37.4 T5: Foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + cow urine @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod formation stage 31.9 31.6 19.2 36.0 38.2 T6: Foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + vermiwash @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod formation stage 32.5 32.3 20.1 37.2 39.6 T7: Foliar application of panchagavya @ 5%+ cow urine @ 20% during pre-flowering and pod formation stage 32.3 32.0 19.5 36.4 38.7 T8: Foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + vermiwash @ 20% during pre-flowering and pod formation stage 32.5 32.1 20.0 36.9 39.1 T9: Foliar application of jeevamrutham @ 5% at vegetative stage +@ 7.5% at flowering stage + @ 10% at pod formation stage 32.7 32.7 17.9 34.

Conclusion

The present study clearly revealed that, among the different nutrient management practices, higher growth attributes, drymatter production, seed and stover yield of chickpea were registered with application of 100% RDF. However, among the different liquid organic manures evaluated, higher growth attributes, drymatter production, seed and stover yield of chickpea were obtained with foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + vermiwash @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod initiation stage.

References

1. Table 3: Effect of different nutrient management practices on seed and stover yield of chickpea during rabi, 2025-26 Treatments Seed yield (kg ha -1 ) Stover yield (kg ha -1 )
2. T1: Foliar application of panchagavya @ 3% during pre-flowering and pod formation stage 1021 1597 T2: Foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% during pre-flowering and pod formation stage 1044 1610 T3: Foliar application of panchagavya @ 3% + cow urine @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod formation stage 1057 1631 T4: Foliar application of panchagavya @ 3% + vermiwash @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod formation stage 1064 1644 T5: Foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + cow urine @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod formation stage 1184 1845 T6: Foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + vermiwash @ 10% during pre-flowering and pod formation stage 1341 2065 T7: Foliar application of panchagavya @ 5%+ cow urine @ 20% during pre-flowering and pod formation stage 1196 1861 T8: Foliar application of panchagavya @ 5% + vermiwash @ 20% during pre-flowering and pod formation stage 1320 2054 T9: Foliar application of jeevamrutham @ 5% at vegetative stage +@ 7.5% at flowering stage + @ 10% at pod formation stage 1049 1620 T10: Absolute control 861 1401 T11: 100% RDF (20-50-0 N,P2O5,K2O kg ha -1 ) 1496 2266 SEm± 39.8 62.1 CD(P=0.05) 118 References
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