Integrated nutrient management improves growth characters of summer mungbean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) under semi-arid conditions of Southern Rajasthan

Introduction

Mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] is an important grain legume belonging to the family Fabaceae, sub-family Papilionoideae, and tribe Phaseoleae (Dixit et al., 2025) [4] . Botanically, mungbean is an erect or semi-erect annual herb, typically attaining a height of 30-90 cm, depending on genotype and growing conditions (Mehandi et al., 2019) [9] . It is widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions because of its short duration, high nutritional value and ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen through symbiotic association with Rhizobium. Mungbean is a nutrient-rich pulse crop, with seeds containing 24-28% protein, 1.0-1.5% fat, 3.5-4.5% fibre, 4.5-5.5% ash, and 59-65% carbohydrates on a dry weight basis (Tsou et. al., 1979) [13] . The seeds supply approximately 334-344 kcal of energy per 100 g (Srivastava and Ali, 2004) [12] . Despite its importance, the productivity of mungbean remains low due to poor soil fertility, imbalanced fertilizer application and deficiencies of essential nutrients, particularly under the semi-arid conditions of Rajasthan. These factors adversely affect plant growth, nodulation and biomass production, ultimately reducing crop yield. INM as a strategy to overcome production constraints in mungbean (Choudhary et al., 2025) [3] . INM refers to the optimization of all possible sources of plant nutrients in an ecologically sound manner to achieve sustainable crop production and maintain soil fertility (Asante et al., 2025) [1] . It involves the balanced use of inorganic fertilizers in combination with organic sources such as farmyard manure (FYM), compost, vermicompost, green manures, crop residues, and biological inputs like Rhizobium, phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB), and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Nanda et al., 2025) [11] . Although several studies have reported the beneficial effects of integrated nutrient management on pulse crops, information on its influence on the growth characters of summer mungbean under the semi-arid agro-climatic conditions of southern Rajasthan is limited.

Therefore, the present investigation was undertaken to evaluate the effect of integrated nutrient management on the growth characters of summer mungbean.

Materials and Methods

A field experiment was conducted during the summer seasons of 2022 and 2023 at the Instructional Farm, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology (MPUAT), Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. The soil was clay loam in texture, slightly alkaline in reaction, low in available N, medium in available P and high in available K. The twelve treatments were: T₁-Control, T₂-100% RDF, T₃-125% RDF, T₄-100% RDF + foliar spray of ZnSO₄, T₅-75% RDF + 3 t FYM ha⁻¹ + Rhizobium, T₆-50% RDF + 6 t FYM ha⁻¹ + Rhizobium, T₇-75% RDF + 3 t FYM ha⁻¹ + Rhizobium + foliar spray of ZnSO₄, T₈-50% RDF + 6 t FYM ha⁻¹ + Rhizobium + foliar spray of ZnSO₄, T₉-75% RDF + 2.5 t vermicompost ha⁻¹ + Rhizobium, T₁₀-50% RDF + 5 t vermicompost ha⁻¹ + Rhizobium, T₁₁-75% RDF + 2.5 t vermicompost ha⁻¹ + Rhizobium + foliar spray of ZnSO₄ and T₁₂-50% RDF + 5 t vermicompost ha⁻¹ + Rhizobium + foliar spray of ZnSO₄. Growth parameters, namely plant height, number of branches plant⁻¹ and number of nodules plant⁻¹, were recorded following standard procedures. The pooled data of two years were analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) for a Randomized Block Design (Gomez and Gomez, 1984) [5] . Treatment means were compared using the critical difference (CD) test at the 5% level of significance.

Results and Discussion

Effect on Plant Height

The significantly higher plant height (57.70 and 58.56 cm during 2022 and 2023, respectively, with pooled mean of 58.13 cm) was recorded under 75% RDF + 2.5 t vermicompost + Rhizobium + FS of ZnSO₄ (T₁₁). This treatment remained statistically at par with 75% RDF + 3 t FYM + Rhizobium + FS of ZnSO₄ (T₇) and 125% RDF (T₃) individual and on pooled basis. The minimum plant height was observed under control (T₁) during both the years and in pooled analysis (Table 1). The significant variation in plant height of mungbean observed under different integrated nutrient management treatments clearly indicates the positive role of balanced and integrated nutrient supply in enhancing vegetative growth. The maximum plant height recorded with T₁₁ during both years and on pooled basis suggests that adequate and readily available nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, promoted cell division, cell elongation and overall vegetative vigor, resulting in taller plants. The statistical parity of this treatment with integrated combinations involving reduced RDF along with vermicompost or FYM, Rhizobium inoculation and foliar application of zinc sulphate highlights the efficiency of integrated nutrient management in sustaining crop growth even at lower levels of inorganic fertilizers. Organic manures likely improved soil physical condition and microbial activity, leading to better nutrient mineralization and sustained nutrient release, while Rhizobium inoculation enhanced biological nitrogen fixation and zinc application improved enzymatic activity and auxin synthesis, collectively contributing to increased plant height. In contrast, the lowest plant height under the control treatment may be attributed to poor nutrient availability and restricted physiological processes, emphasizing the necessity of integrated nutrient management for achieving optimum growth of mungbean under the agro-climatic conditions of southern Rajasthan. This finding are also individually concluded by Mohit and Kumar (2022) [10] , Kishor et. al., (2021) [7] and Choudary et. al., (2025) who reported a significant increase in plant height of green gram under integrated nutrient management practices. This clearly indicates that integrated nutrient management has a positive impact on plant height in mungbean.

Effect on Number of Branches per Plant

The significant increase in number of branches per plant under different integrated nutrient management treatments. On pooled basis, number of branches per plant varied from 6.19 to 9.20. The significantly maximum number of branches per plant (9.00 and 9.39 during 2022 and 2023, respectively, with pooled mean of 9.20) was recorded under 75% RDF + 2.5 t vermicompost + Rhizobium + FS of ZnSO₄ (T₁₁), which was statistically at par with 75% RDF + 3 t FYM + Rhizobium + FS of ZnSO₄ (T₇) individual and on pooled basis. The lowest number of branches plant -1 was observed under control (T₁) during both the years and in pooled analysis (Table 1). Integrated nutrient sources effectively enhanced nutrient availability and uptake, thereby promoting lateral growth and branching. Organic manures likely improved soil structure and microbial activity, while biofertilizer inoculation enhanced nitrogen availability and zinc application supported enzymatic and hormonal activities responsible for branch initiation. In contrast, the minimum number of branches under control treatment may be attributed to nutrient deficiency and poor soil biological activity, highlighting the importance of integrated nutrient management in improving growth attributes of mungbean. Kumar et al., (2021) [8] , Balo et al., (2026) [2] and Gupta et al., (2024) [6] revealed that integrated nutrient management significantly increased the number of branches per plant in mungbean due to improved nutrient availability and balanced nutrition. The results of the present study are in close conformity with these findings, clearly indicating that integrated nutrient management has a positive and significant impact on branches per plant in mungbean.

Effect on Number of Nodules per Plant

On pooled basis, number of nodules plant -1 ranged from 14.41 to 27.41 among all the treatments. The highest number of nodules plant⁻¹ (27.41) was recorded under T 11 (75% RDF + 2.5 t vermicompost + Rhizobium + foliar spray of ZnSO₄), which was significantly superior to all other treatments. The next best treatment was 75% RDF + 3 t FYM + Rhizobium + FS of ZnSO₄ (T₇), followed by 125% RDF (T₃). The lowest number of nodules plant -1 was observed under control (T₁) during both the years as well as in pooled analysis (Table 2). RDF combined with organic manures, Rhizobium inoculation and foliar application of zinc sulphate indicate that integrated nutrient management created a conducive soil environment for effective root-Rhizobium symbiosis. Organic sources likely improved soil physical conditions and microbial activity, while Rhizobium inoculation directly enhanced biological nitrogen fixation, leading to increased nodule formation. In contrast, poor nutrient availability and limited microbial activity under control treatment resulted in significantly lower nodulation, emphasizing the importance of integrated nutrient management in improving nodulation and nitrogen economy of mungbean. The findings of Kumar (2021) [8] and Wang et al., (2025) [14] reported a significant increase in number of nodules per plant with the application of integrated nutrient management practices. The results of the present investigation are in close conformity with these findings, clearly indicating that integrated nutrient management has a positive and significant impact on nodulation in mungbean.

Conclusion

Integrated nutrient management significantly improved the growth parameters of mungbean, including plant height, number of branches, and nodules per plant, over the control. The application of 75% RDF + 2.5 t vermicompost + Rhizobium + foliar spray of ZnSO₄ (T₁₁) proved to be the most effective treatment, producing the highest values for all growth attributes and remaining statistically at par with 75% RDF + 3 t FYM + Rhizobium + foliar spray of ZnSO₄ (T₇) and 125% RDF (T₃) for most parameters. The superior performance of integrated nutrient management may be attributed to balanced nutrient supply, improved soil physical and biological properties, enhanced biological nitrogen fixation, and increased nutrient-use efficiency. These findings suggest that integrated nutrient management can sustain optimum mungbean growth while reducing the dependence on chemical fertilizers under the agroclimatic conditions of southern Rajasthan.

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