Effect of efficient sulfur fertilization on summer mungbean (Vigna radiata L.)

Introduction

Pulses are considered as the second major constituent of Indian diet after cereals. On an average, pulses contain 22-24% proteins as against 8-10% in cereals. A good amount of lysine is also present in the pulses. Globally, pulses occupy about 96.8 million hectares with an annual production of approximately 101.4 mt, resulting in an average productivity of about 1050 kg ha⁻¹. India is the largest producer and consumer of pulses, contributing nearly 29% of global production, followed by Canada, China and the European Union (FAO, 2025) [2] . India is the world's largest producer and consumer of pulses. During 2024-25, pulses were cultivated over 27.72 million hectares, producing 25.68 mt with an average productivity of 926 kg ha⁻¹ (Anonymous, 2024-25). Mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) belongs to the family fabaceae or leguminaceae. Being a short duration crop and having wider adaptability, it can be grown in kharif as well as in summer season. Moreover, it is drought resistant that can withstand adverse environmental conditions and hence successfully be grown in rainfed areas (Nair and Schreinemachers 2020) [3] . It is grown principally for its protein-rich (25%) edible seeds (Jain et al., 2020) [4] and have good amount of lysine content (460 mg g-1) and tryptophan (60 mg g-1). Sulfur is considered to be the fourth major plant nutrient and hence important as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. In India sulfur responses have been obtained from pastures, pulses and oilseeds. Sulfur has an important role in stimulation of cell division and photosynthetic process. It also promotes the root nodulation in legumes which ensure its availability during vegetative growth period and development of plant occurs. It is involved in protein synthesis, chlorophyll formation and is considered indispensable for the synthesis of cysteine, cystine and methionine.

It also promotes the root nodules in legumes which cause the more sulfur available during vegetative growth period and development of plant occurs (Meena et al., 2013 and Das, 2017 and Krishna et al., 2020) [6,16,5] . Nano-sulfur has generated interest due to its antibacterial and insecticidal properties. Cao et al., (2021) [7] showed that sulfur nanoparticles of 30 nm and 100 nm were effective in controlling Fusarium wilt compared to the application of bulk sulfur granules and sulfate. Research has shown that nanosulfur acts as a plant growth promoter, enhancing plant stress resistance and improving the nutritional quality of plants.

Materials and Methods

This chapter provides a description of the materials and methodology used in the study Effect of Efficient Sulfur Fertilization on Summer Mungbean (Vigna radiata L.). At a latitude of 29.081833 North, longitude of 77.700589 East, and elevation of 237 meters above mean sea level, the field experiment was conducted at the Crop Research Center of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology, Meerut (U.P.). Meerut has a subtropical climate and is located in the center of Western Uttar Pradesh. The geography of the trial field was uniform, and the drainage system was effective. The experimental field's soil had a sandy loam texture, low levels of accessible nitrogen and organic carbon, medium levels of available phosphorus, potassium and sulfur, and a reaction that was almost neutral. Pant Mung-5 was sown on 25 March 2025. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with 9 treatments with 3 replications. Nine plots of gross plot size (5 m × 4.5 m) and net plot size (4 m x 3.3 m) were included in each replication.

Results and Discussion

Yield attributing characters 3.1.1 Number of pods plant -1

The sulfur fertilization in mungbean had significant effect on number of pods plant -1 . Significantly highest number of pods plant -1 were obtained with Nano S @5kg ha -1 + spray @2.5 mg/L at pre flowering (25.2) which was statistically at par with T 6 (23.50), T 9 (23.00), T 2 and T 5 (21.5) but superior to rest of the treatments. Further, the per cent increase in number of pods plant -1 was 29.2% as compared to T 4 .

Number of grains pod-1

The sulfur fertilized treatments had significant effect on number of grains pod-1. Spray with Nano S @5kg ha -1 + spray @2.5 mg/L at pre flowering resulted into the highest (9.8) grains pod-1 followed by T 9 and T 6 treatments. Though, the minimum number of grains pod-1 was recorded in control (6.8).

Grain yield plant -1 (g) in mungbean varied significantly due to sulfur treatments. Maximum grain yield plant -1 (4.8g) was recorded T 7 (Nano S @5kg ha -1 + spray @2.5 mg/L at pre flowering) treatment, which remained at par with T 6 (4.6g) and T 9 (4.7g) while significantly superior over all other treatments. The lowest grain yield plant -1 was recorded in control (3.8g). Moreover under T 7 , T 9 and T 6 the pace of increment was to the tune of 20, 17.5 and 15%, respectively over T 8 .

The perusal of the data showed that test weight varied significantly due to sulfur application in mungbean. However, the highest test weight (35.8 g) was recorded in treatment receiving Nano S @5kg ha -1 + spray @2.5 mg/L at pre flowering (T 7 ) and lowest test weight under control treatment (32.2 g). The next in the order were T 9 , T 6 and T 2 .

Grain yield kg ha -1 varied significantly with sulfur nutrition in mungbean. Perusal of data presented in Table 4.11 and depicted in Fig.

showed that maximum grain yield (1326 kg ha -1 ) was observed with Nano S @5kg ha -1 + spray @2.5 mg/L at pre flowering (T 7 ) which remained on par with treatment T 9 (1238), T 6 (1205) and T 2 (1193), while significantly superior to rest of the treatments. Moreover, the increase in grain yield under T 7 and T 9 was 20.8 and 12.8%, respectively over T 8 . However, the minimum grain yield was recorded in treatment receiving no sulfur fertilizer (1013 kg ha -1 ). These findings corroborate the results of Budhar et al. (2001) [10] , Dey et al. (2004) [11] , Kadam et al. (2006) [12] , Srivastava et al. (2006) [15] , Singh et al. (2015) [14] , Arunraj et al. (2018) [8] , Murshed et al. (2021) [13] and Neha and Dawson (2023) of improved yield attributes and yield of mungbean with sulfur fertilization.

The data on straw yield of mungbean as summarized in Table 4.11 showed a significantly influence of sulfur fertilizers over control. The straw yield varied between 1902 to 3097 kg ha -1 among different treatments, being highest with Nano S @5kg ha -1 + spray @2.5 mg/L at pre flowering (T 7 ) followed by T 9 . The treatments receiving foliar application over and above sub optimal S (50%) remained on par with each other. Further, the increase in yield by T 7 , T 9 and T 2 was 1195, 935 and 889 kg ha -1 , respectively over control.

The data pertaining to biological yield was found to be significant with sulfur in mungbean. The data presented in Table 4.11 revealed that biological yield (kg ha -1 ) increased significantly with application of sulfur, irrespective of the treatments in comparison to control. However, highest biological yield (3950 kg ha -1 ) was recorded with Nano S @5kg ha -1 + spray @2.5 mg/L at pre flowering (T 7 ) which was significantly more over T 4 (3294 kg ha -1 ) and control, while rest of the treatments were significantly at par to each other. Moreover, the increase in biological yield by T 7 and T 9 was 21.2 and 14.6%, respectively over control (T 1 ).

Harvest index

The maximum harvest index of 34.6% was recorded in treatment receiving Nano S @5kg ha -1 + spray @2.5 mg/L at pre flowering (T 7 ), which remained at par with treatment T 6 (33.8), T 2 (33.5) and T 9 (34.0%), but significantly superior to rest of the treatments. Although, the minimum harvest index (31.6%) was obtained under control followed by T 4 (31.7%).

Sulfur fertilization had a significant effect on sulfur content in grain and straw of mungbean Sulfur content in grain and straw ranged between 0.395 to 0.445 and 0.107 to 0.147% under different sulfur treatments. The data revealed that sulfur content in grain (0.445) and straw (0.147%) was significantly highest under mungbean with Nano S @5kg ha -1 + spray @2.5 mg/L at pre flowering (T 7 ) but, the lowest sulfur content in grain (0.395) and straw (0.107%) was recorded in control.

4.2 Sulfur uptake in grains, straw and total (kg ha -1 ) Sulfur fertilization had a significant influence on sulfur uptake by mungbean in grains, straw and total biomass. Across the different sulfur treatments, sulfur uptake in grains varied from 4.0 to 5.9 kg ha⁻1, while straw sulfur uptake ranged between 2.0 and 4.5 kg ha⁻¹. Consequently, the total sulfur uptake ranged from 6.0 to 10.4 kg ha⁻¹. These results are in line with the reports of Tripathi et al. (2012) [18] , Das (2016) [16] , Patel et al. (2017) [17] , Serawat et al. (2020) [19] , Sachan et al. (2020) [20] at SVPUAT, Meerut, Rajni and Kumawat (2021) [21] and Chaudhari et al.

(2024) of sulfur-nitrogen synergism and enhanced nutrient uptake with sulfur fertilization in greengram and mungbean. Perusal of the data presented in Table 3 revealed that all sulfur treatments significantly enhanced sulfur uptake in mungbean compared with the control. The highest sulfur uptake by grains (5.9 kg ha⁻¹) and straw (4.5 kg ha⁻¹) was recorded under the application of Nano S @ 5 kg ha⁻¹ + foliar spray @ 2.5 mg/L at the pre-flowering stage (T 7 ). This treatment was followed by T 9 , which recorded grain and straw sulfur uptake of 5.5 and 4.0 kg ha⁻¹, T 6 with 5.2 and 4.1 kg ha⁻¹, respectively. These treatments were statistically at par with each other. Under T 7 the total sulfur uptake was 33.3% higher than that recorded under T 3 . In contrast, the lowest sulfur uptake by grains, straw and total biomass (4.0, 2.0 and 6.0) was observed in control.

Conclusion

On perusal of the findings, it remains no more obscure that different sources and methods of sulfur fertilization affected the growth, nodulation, yield attributes, yield, quality, nutrient uptake and economics of summer mungbean. Thus, it may be concluded that combined basal and foliar application of sulfur through Nano S @ 5 kg ha -1 as basal dose along with foliar spray @ 2.5 mg/L at pre-flowering (T 7 ) led to the highest grain yield (1326 kg ha -1 ) and fetched the highest net returns (Rs 86,267 ha -1 ), being higher by 313 kg ha -1 and Rs 28,896 ha -1 than control, respectively, besides

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