Effect of harvesting stages (H), varieties (V), foliar spray treatments (T) and their interactions on pod characteristics in soybean

Abstract

The present study was carried out under the field and laboratory conditions at Post Graduate Institute Research Farm and Seed Technology Research Unit, Department of Agricultural Botany, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, Dist. Ahmednagar (M.S.) during kharif season 2017 and 2018. Two varieties of soybean viz., V1 - KDS-726, and V2 - KDS-344 were used for the study. The foliar spray with antioxidants viz., T1- Ascorbic acid (100 ppm), T2- Salicylic acid (100 ppm), T3- Humic acid (2000 ppm), T4- Pyridoxine (100 ppm), T5- Salicylic acid (100 ppm) + Ascorbic acid (100 ppm) along with T0- Control. The crop was harvested at three harvesting stages viz., H1- at physiological maturity, H2- 5th days after physiological maturity and H3- 10th days after physiological maturity. The experiment was conducted in Split Factorial Design with three replications. The pod characteristics viz., length of pods, diameter of pods and pod wall thickness were recorded in laboratory higher length of pods (4.52 cm), diameter of pods (7.93 cm) and pod wall thickness (0.306 mm), were recorded in variety KDS-726 (V1) irrespective of foliar application of antioxidants and harvesting stages.