Impact of cumulative front line demonstrations on productivity of green gram in Mahendergarh district of Haryana

Introduction

Pulses are an important source of protein and play a vital role in ensuring nutritional security and soil fertility through biological nitrogen fixation. Despite their importance, pulse productivity in India remains low due to traditional farming practices, limited adoption of improved technologies, and inadequate knowledge dissemination. Cumulative front line demonstration (CFLD) serve as a crucial extension approach to showcase improved varieties, nutrient management, and crop management practices under real farm conditions, helping bridge the gap between research recommendations and farmers' practices. The crop covers very marginal area. The area under sesame crop is likely to increase because of its better profitability. Production technology of these crops still needs to be transferred to the interested farmers. Available research findings show that the technology gap can be minimized considerably with the available technology and the new varieties along with close monitoring and supply of critical inputs. Transfer of technology by various modes is very essential to increase productivity and maintain sustainability in agriculture. One of the important mandate of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) is to conduct cluster frontline demonstrations of various crops having production potential under specific conditions. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) through its Agriculture Technology Application Research Institutes (ATTARI) has assigned the task of conducting the cluster frontline demonstrations on Pulses to the KVKs under National Food Security Mission Scheme. Keeping in view the above factors cluster frontline demonstrations were conducted on Green gram crop at farmers' fields in the district.

Objectives of this study were as follows

Material and method

To enhance adoption of modern technologies by the farmers, KVK, conducted PRA survey in KVK adopted villages of the district and it was observed that yield of Green gram is low due to use of old vari-ety, incidence of root rot, yellow mosaic, bacterial blight and imbalance or no use of fertilizers. The operational area for cluster front line demonstration is listed in table: 1

Crop sequence

Since Mustard and Wheat are the major rabi season crops of the district, Green gram being the kharif season crop was seeded in fields vacated by these crops sowing was done with onset of monsoon rains in first fortnight of July.

Identification of technology adoption gaps

Participatory rural approach (PRA) techniques, field observation and interaction with progressive as well as marginal farmers were adopted to identify the technological gaps between the existing practices and improved agricultural practices. In varietal adoption there was a 30% gap A major gap was also observed in seed treatment (85%) and fertilizer application. Particularly adoption of bio fertilizers resulting in 93-95% gap. In plant protection management a 75% gap was observed in control of insects. The identification of technology gap is given in Table 2. These identification gaps provided a base for planning cumulative front line demonstration so that the gap can be minimised by organising farmers training, and other need based extension activities.

Critical inputs

The KVK provided quality seed of improved varieties, fertilizers use including bio fertilizers and Pesticides for control of diseases and insects are the critical inputs needed higher crop yield. Quality seed of MH-421 grown with recommended package of practices in demonstrations plots increased crop yield remarkably (36%) over other varieties grown in local check plots (table 3). 5. Management of sucking pests (Imidacloprid @ 250 ml/ ha)

Technology demonstrated in CFLDs on pulses (Kharif -2019 to 2022)

Marketing

Farmers did not face any marketing problem for sale of green gram produce. The crop produce was sold by the farmers at Rs. 5500 / quintal.

Result and discussion

The data output were collected from both demonstrated plotsts as well as local check plots along with different parameters as suggested by Yadav et al. (2004) [1] and Verma et al. (2014) [2] for calculating gap analysis, costs and returns. The analytical tool used for assessing the performance of the FLD on gram is as follows:

Technology The results presented in Table: 3 and graphically presented in fig: 1 indicated that the demonstration technology resulted in higher grain yield than the local check during kharif 2019 to 2022. The average grain yield increased from 6.5 q/ha in 2019 to 7.1 q/ha in 2022 compared with 4.8 to 5.4 q/ha under local check. On an average demonstration technology gave 36.0% higher yield than local check. The higher was due to adoption of improved technology viz improved seed, balance fertilization, seed treatment and crop management practices.

The technology index in 2019 was 45.8% and declined to 40.8% in 2022 with an overall average of 43.1% which indicated progressive improvement in the feasibility and adoption of improved technology.

The extension gap which represents the difference between demonstration yield and local check yield 1.7 to 1.8 q/ha with a pooled value of 1.75 q/ha. The consistent extension gap from 2019 to 2022 shows the relative performance of improved/ demonstrated technology in improving green gram productivity over the existing farmers practice, suggesting wider scope for adoption of improved practices for increasing productivity in the large area.

The potential yield of green gram was 12.0 q/ha throughout the study period. The difference between potential yield and demonstration yield representing technology gap remained higher, ranging from 4.9 q/h to 5.5 q/ha, with an average of 5.2 q/ha. The technology gap decreased, indicating gradual improvement in the the performance of demonstration technology over farmers practice. The environmental variability, soil condition and rainfall distribution have been restricted the realization of potential yield of green gram in the district. Overall, the finding demonstrated the increase in green gram yield in demonstrated plots over the check plots. However, the considerable technology gap highlighted the need for strengthening extension efforts to bridge the gap in terms of training and field days.

Constraints in green gram production:

The unavailability of suitable high yielding variety (HYV) seed, uncertainty of monsoon rains/drought were the major constraints to clusterbean crops production. Other constraints such as low fertility and post-harvest management were also found to reduce green gram production.

Benefit-cost ratio trends

The B:C ratio was higher in all the four years 2019-2022 in demonstration plots over the local check plots ( Fig: 2). On an average demonstrated technology resulted a B: C ratio of 1.99 compared to B:C ratio of 1.74 in local check plots or Farmers practice. Thus the demonstration provided an improvement of approximately 14.3% in the average B;C ratio. The increase in B:c ratio indicated that the demonstrated technology increased the economy efficiency of green gram cultivation. The results suggested that the demonstrated technology was economically viable and had good potential for adoption by farmers of the district.

Fig:2 Benefit: Cost ratio trends

Reaction of farmers about each critical input supplied under demonstrations

1. Green gram variety MH-421 put a great impact for its short duration and better yield than other varieties grown by the farmers.

2. Farmers realize the importance of balanced application of fertilizers which was demonstrated at farmers' fields. Positive response was seen for application of Phosphorus and Biofertilizers.

3. Role of seed treatment with recommended fungicides in enhancing yield in demonstration plot put a great impact on farmers mindset for adopting this practice.

4. Application of pendimethalin controlled Trianthema, Digera and Amaranthus effectively but did not control cyperus.

Feed back for future research

1. Herbicides for effective control of cyperus are needed.

2. Rot rot disease was not controlled effectively by seed treatment with Thiram effective control measures are needed to be evolved.

3. Green gram variety with synchronous maturity are needed.

References

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11. How to cite this article: Yadav R, Singh N, Shivran A. Impact of cumulative front line demonstrations on productivity of green gram in Mahendergarh district of Haryana. International Journal of Advanced Biochemistry Research. 2026;10(9):1900-1903. doi: https://www.doi.org/10.33545/26174693.2026.v10.i9Sx.10106