Assessing growth performance and agro-meteorological indices of green gram (Vigna radiata L.) varieties influenced by soil amendments and foliar application under sodic soil in Cauvery delta zone of Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Green gram prefers neutral soil reactions and is sensitive to saline and alkaline soil conditions. Around 2.1 % of the country's geographical area is salt-affected, of which 3.77 million ha is sodic soil. Rehabilitation of salt-affected soil using drainage is expensive and leaching with good quality water is not feasible. To overcome this, a field experiment was conducted at Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tiruchirappalli, during summer 2022 to study the effect of soil amendments and foliar nutrition under sodic soil. The experiment was laid out in a split-plot design with three replications. The treatments comprised of different varieties in main plots (M1, M2, M3, M4, M5 and M6) and different soil amendments with foliar application in sub plots (S1, S2 and S3). The results showed that VBN (Gg) 4 + gypsum @ 50 % GR + pressmud @ 10 t ha-1 + FS of brassinosteroid 0.2 ppm (M4S1) registered higher plant height (18.31, 31.52 & 60.63 cm), DMP (907, 1932 & 2969 kg ha-1), CGR (3.02, 6.83 & 4.15 g m-2 d-1) and SPAD value (37.56, 41.62 & 30.57) at 30, 45 DAS and harvest. The same treatments increased grain and haulm yield of 997 and 2232 kg ha-1. It also increased all agro-meteorological indices viz., GDD, HTU, PTU, RTD and HUE of green gram. However, comparable results were obtained with VBN (Gg) 4 + gypsum @ 50 % GR + CSR GROMOR @ 25 kg ha-1 + FS of brassinosteroid 0.2 ppm (M4S2).