Effect of Novel Biostimulants on Performance of Black Gram and Soybean in Peninsular India

Abstract

ABSTRACT The objective of modern agriculture includes environmental sustainability, low production costs, and higher productivity. Biostimulants are composed of humic acids, hormones, algae extracts, plant growth-promoting bacteria, amino acids, and a chain of peptides. Black gram and soybean crops are of immense economic significance. The growth and yield of these crops are limited by supply of nutrients. The potentiation of the early growth of plants by treating seeds with these substances has been one of the adopted alternatives, which often promote physiological changes that stimulate growth. The field experiment was conducted with randomized complete block design and replicated four times. Effects of different biostimulants at different concentrations as foliar spray and seed treatment were examined on growth, yield parameters, and yield of black gram (TAU-1) and soybean (JS-335) during kharif 2020 and 2021. Results showed that foliar application of Quantis biostimulant @ 5 ml L−1 recorded higher growth, yield parameters, and seed yield (897 kg ha−1), biological yield (1209 kg ha−1), production efficiency (13.00 kg day−1 ha−1) in black gram and seed treatment with Epivio Energy @ 2 ml kg−1 fetched higher seed yield (1403 kg ha−1), biological yield (2914 kg ha−1), production efficiency (16.13 kg day−1 ha−1) along with higher growth and yield parameters in soybean. It can be concluded that they will help in achieving higher growth and yield of black gram and soybean.