Effect of sources and levels of phosphorus on yield, quality and phosphorus uptake in pigeonpea

Abstract

A field trail on effect of sources and level of phosphorus on yield and quality of pigeonpea was conducted at Experimental Farm, Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani (Maharashtra) during Kharif season of 2011-12. The present experiment was laid out in Split Plot Design with twelve treatment combinations of four phosphorus levels (25, 50, 75 and 100 kg P 2 O 5 ha ?1 ) and three sources of phosphorus (single superphosphate diammonium phosphate and 20:20:00) replicated thrice. Yield attributes like number of pods per plant, weight of pods and weight of seeds per plant were increased due to application of 100 kg P 2 O 5 ha ?1 than 25 kg P 2 O 5 ha ?1 . However, it was at par with 50 and 75 kg P 2 O 5 ha ?1 . Among sources single superphosphate influenced the yield attributes. The combination effect of levels and sources of phosphorus application was non-significant for different yield attributes. The yield of pigeonpea was significantly influenced by levels and sources of phosphorus. The maximum seed yield (19.66 q ha ?1 ) was recorded under 100 kg P 2 O 5 ha 1 than 25 kg P 2 O 5 ha ?1 (13.80 q ha ?1 ). However, it was at par with 50 and 75 kg P 2 O 5 ha ?1 . Among sources, single superphosphate was beneficial for improving pigeonpea seed yield (19.56 q ha ?1 ). Similar results were obtained in case of biological yield and harvest index.In case of protein content, an application of 100 kg P 2 O 5 ha ?1 gave higher protein content (20.52 %) than 25 kg P 2 O 5 ha ?1 (18.87%) and at par with 50 and 75 kg P 2 O 5 ha ?1 . While, single superphosphate gave higher values of protein content (20.00%) than the other sources of phosphorus.