Effect of drip fertigation on the productivity of green gram under sodic soil

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Tiruchirapalli during summer 2021 to study the effect of drip fertigation with different irrigation intervals and phosphorus sources on the productivity of green gram under sodic soil condition. The experiment consisted of four main plot treatments with different irrigation intervals such as drip irrigation in three days interval (M1), five days interval (M2), seven days interval (M3) compared with surface irrigation (M4). Subplot treatments consisted of different phosphorus sources viz., SSP (S1), DAP (S2) as soil application, MAP (S3) and Phosphoric acid (S4) as a fertigation and control plot without phosphorus application (S5). The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications. Drip irrigation was given at 80% PE. Drip fertigation was given once in five days interval. Results revealed that among the irrigation intervals, drip irrigation with five days intervals recorded significantly highest growth and yield characters such as plant height (39.9cm), number of branches plant-1(5.1), root length plant-1 (16.1cm), root nodules plant-1(12.4), dry matter production(3843 kg ha-1), LAI (6.3), yield attributes viz., number of pods plant-1 (40.8), number of seeds pod-1(12.4), pod length (8.0 cm), pod weight (3.46 g), grain yield (841kg ha-1) and haulm yield(1821 kg ha-1). However, drip irrigation with seven days interval recorded significantly higher growth, yield parameters than surface irrigation. Among the phosphorus sources fertigation of phosphoric acid recorded significantly taller plant (42.8cm), more number of branches plant-1 (5.8), root length plant-1 (14.5 cm), root nodules plants-1 (13.0), dry matter production (3463 kg ha-1), LAI (7.0) and yield attributes viz., number of pods plant-1 (41.5), pod length (12.2 cm), seeds pods-1 (12.2), seed weight (3.72 g), seed yield (814 kg ha-1) and haulm yield (2559 kg ha-1). Similarly, fertigation of MAP recorded significantly higher growth and yield parameters than the control plot. Thus, drip irrigation with 80% PE at five days interval and fertigation with either MAP or phosphoric acid as a source of phosphorus could be revealed for improving the productivity of green gram under sodic soil condition.