Alleviation of Sodicity Stress in Green Gram and Black Gram Using Plant Growth Regulating Substances

Abstract

Most of the pulses in India are grown in low fertility, problematic soils and unpredictable environmental conditions. Major issues in pulse production are poor establishment and low harvest index. In pulses harvest index is only 15-20%. Physiological manipulations such as spraying of hormones and nutrients that reduce flower drop and thereby facilitate large sink size. The objective of this research is to study the impact of Growth regulating substances on germination and establishment and economic yield of black gram and green gram under Sodic soil conditions. The study area is Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute, Trichy. The nature of soil is sodicity with exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) of 18.94% with pH of 9.02. The two crop varieties green gram VBN (Gg) 2 & black gram VBN (Bg) 6 were employed under sodic soil condition. Field experiment was conducted during late July to October 2017 under sodic soil condition with ten treatments. The experiment was laid out in a Randamized Block Design with three replications. Foliar spray was given at flower initiation and pod initiation stages. Ten treatment combinations were employed by T1: Control, T2: Seed Treatment (ST) with Ammonium Molybdate (AM) 0.05% + foliar spray of ZnSO4 – 0.5%. T3: AM 0.05% + Panchagavya -3.0%, T4: AM 0.05% + foliar spray of KCl -1%, T5: ST with GA3 50 ppm + foliar spray of ZnSO4 – 0.5%, T6: GA3 50 ppm + Panchagavya -3.0%, T7: GA3 50 ppm + KCl -1%, T8: Cowpea Sprout Extract 2% +ZnSO4 – 0.5%, T9: Cowpea Sprout Extract 2% +Panchagavya -3.0%, T10: Cowpea Sprout Extract 2% + foliar spray of KCl -1%. In conclusion the yield enhancement in best treatment may be due to the presence of bioactive substances in sprouted cowpea extracts and panchagavya were found effective towards yield maximization.