Effect of fertilizer levels and organic foliar nutrition on growth and yield of Blackgram under rainfed condition

Introduction

Pulses are commonly known as food legumes which are secondary to cereals in production and consumption in India. Pulses play an important source of dietary protein, energy, minerals and vitamins for the mankind. Pulses provide 25% of protein requirements of predominantly vegetarian population. United Nations declared 2016 as "International Year of Pulses" (IYP) to heighten public awareness of nutritional benefits of pulses as part of sustainable food security and nutrition. Pulses account for around 20% of the area under food grain and contribute around 7-10% of total food grains production in the country (Mohanty and Satyasai, 2015) [6] as well as build up soil fertility by adding atmospheric nitrogen (average 30-50 kg/ha) in soil so, it's called as mini fertilizer factory. Pulses are called as "Marvel of Nature". Pulses are cheaper than meat; they are often referred to as "Poor man's meat" in developing countries like India (Sunilkumar et al., 2018) [11] . Blackgram (Vigna mungo L.) is one of the most important pulses of rainfed areas grown throughout the country. It is also known as urdbean, mash and black maple etc. People in various regions of India use Blackgram with different names like urd or urid in Hindi, adad in Gujarati, masakalai in Bengali, minappappu in Telugu, ulunthu in Tamil, udri bale in Kannada and uzhummu in MalayalamThis crop is grown in different cropping systems as a mixed crop, catch crop and sequential crop in the country. The composition of Blackgram residue is approximately as follows: cellulose (26.8%±2.3%), hemicellulose (32.48%±3.0%), lignin (23.14%±2.1%), crude protein (16%±0.8%), and ash content (5.1%±1.2%) (Ilyas et al., 2012) [4] . Blackgram seed contains 25-26% protein, 56-60% carbohydrates,1.5% fat and minerals combination, amino acid and essential vitamins. It is used as nutritive fodder specially for milch cattle. It is also used as a green manuring crop. India produces approximately 17.68 lakh tonnes of Blackgram from around 30.98 lakh hectares, with an average yield of 570 kg/ha during 2022-23. In India, 80% of Blackgram cultivation occurs during the kharif season and nearly 20% during the rabi season. Blackgram accounts for approximately 10% of the total pulse production in India, with more than 90% of its production coming from ten states: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Whereas, Gujarat it occupies an area of about 0.97 lakh hectare with a production of about 0.59 lakh tonnes and productivity of 611 kg/ha during 2022-23 (Anonymous, 2023) [1] . The productivity of black gram in our country is very low. Hence, there is a need for enhancement of the productivity of Blackgram by proper agronomic practices. One among them is foliar application of organic sources of nutrients for exploiting genetic potential of the crop. This is considered to be an efficient and economic method of supplementing part of nutrient requirements at critical stages. Foliar application is credited with the advantage of quick and efficient utilization of nutrients, elimination of losses through leaching, fixation and regulating the uptake of nutrients by plant. Hence, the present study was conducted to evaluate effect of fertilizer levels and organic foliar nutrition on growth attributes, yield attributes and yield of Blackgram under rainfed condition.

Material and Methods

A field experiment was carried out at college farm, College of Agriculture, Navsari Agricultural University, Campus Bharuch during kharif 2025. The soil of experimental plot was clayey (Inceptisols) with low in available N (234 kg/ha), medium in P2O5 (40.67 kg/ha) and high in K2O (339 kg/ha). The soil reaction (pH) was slightly alkaline (7.65). The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with ten treatments comprising T₁ (Absolute control), T₂ [RDF (20:40:00 kg NPK/ha)], T₃ (100% RDF + 4% vermibedwash), T₄ (100% RDF + 4% Panchgavya), T₅ (100% RDF + 4% cow urine), T₆ (100% RDF + 2% novel organic liquid), T₇ (75% RDF + 4% vermibedwash), T₈ (75% RDF + 4% Panchgavya), T₉ (75% RDF + 4% cow urine) and T₁₀ (75% RDF + 2% novel organic liquid) with three replications. Foliar nutrition applied at branching and flowering stages of Blackgram. The Blackgram var. Gujarat urad 3 was used for experimental purpose and sown on 2th July, 2025 at 45 x 15 cm spacing, by adopting the recommended seed rate 15 kg/ha and RDF (20-40-00 NPK kg/ha) given through urea and single super phosphate. The crop was harvested during 17th October 2025. Weeds were managed by herbicides and plant protection measures were taken up as and when required. In each plot five plants were randomly selected and tagged to record experimental observations on growth, yield attributes and yield. At maturity, pods per plant, seeds per pod, 100-seed weight, biological yield and seed yield were recorded. The results were statistically analyzed using standard ANOVA techniques as suggested by (Panse and Sukhatme, 1985) to draw appropriate inferences [7] .

Results and Discussion

Growth attributes

Plant population per net plot at initial and at harvest was not significantly influenced due to foliar application of different organic formulations. Sufficient soil moisture present at the time of germination and during initial growth stage was responsible for maintaining the satisfactory plant population in the experiment. Application of T 4 (100% RDF + 4% Panchgavya) at branching and flowering stages of Blackgram significantly highest influenced the growth attributes viz., plant height at 30 DAS (21.30 cm), 45 DAS (44.32 cm) and at harvest (63.70 cm), number of branches per plant at 30 DAS (2.89), 45 DAS (4.82 cm) and 60 DAS (5.69), dry matter accumulation per plant at 30 DAS (15.32 g), 45 DAS (25.79 g) and 60 DAS (45.45 g). However, it was statistically at par with T3 (100% RDF + 4% Vermibedwash), T 6 (100% RDF + 2% Novel organic liquid) and T8 (75% RDF + 4% Panchgavya). The increase in growth parameters it might be due to the application of Panchgavya which attributed to increased availability of cytokinin to shoot which played a role in cell elongation process either through cell division or elongation and enhanced the growth rate of plant since it contains the favourable macro and micro-nutrients, growth hormones and microbes in liquid formulation. Foliar application of organic formulations such as Panchgavya, vermibedwash and novel organic liquid with RDF likely supplied essential nutrients, growth regulators and microbial metabolites directly to [3,5,9] . Significantly yield attributes of Blackgram viz., number of pods per plant (59.64) and seeds per pod (6.99) were recorded with T4 (100% RDF + 4% Panchgavya) at branching and flowering stages of Blackgram. However, it was statistically at par with T3 (100% RDF + 4% Vermibedwash), T6 (100% RDF + 2% Novel organic liquid) and T8 (75% RDF + 4% Panchgavya). While, 1000 seed weight (g) and harvest index (%) was not significantly influenced by different treatments. This might be due to easy transfer of nutrients to plant through foliar spray of Panchgavya and the quantities of IAA and GA present in Panchgavya could have created the stimuli in the plant system which in turn increased the production of growth regulators in cell system. Hence, stimulated the necessary growth and development in plants, leading to significant increase in number of pods per plant. Significantly the highest seed yield (1347 kg/ha) and stover yield (2749 kg/ha) of Blackgram was observed under T4 (100% RDF + 4% Panchgavya), which was statistically at par with T3 (100% RDF + 4% Vermibedwash), T6 (100% RDF + 2% Novel organic liquid) and T8 (75% RDF + 4% Panchgavya) in case of stover yield which was statistically at par with T3 (100% RDF + 4% Vermibedwash) and T6 (100% RDF + 2% Novel organic liquid).

The overall improvement in all the growth and yield attributing components may be due to adequate supply of nutrients with easy availability to plant at most critical growth period resulted into better growth and yield attributing characters. [2,3,5,8,9] .

Conclusion:

Based on the results of the present investigation, it can be concluded that the application of 75% recommended dose of fertilizers (15:30:00 kg NPK/ha) with foliar spray of 4% Panchgavya at branching and flowering stages found most economical practices for improving growth and getting profitable yield of Blackgram. Further, foliar spray of 2% novel organic liquid fertilizer or 4% vermibedwash with 100% RDF also produced higher growth and profitable Balckgram yield.

References

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