Influence of Differential Substitution of Nutrients through Organics on Growth, Yield and Nutrient Content of Green Gram (Vigna radiata) in Irrigated Sub-tropical Region of J and K

Abstract

Background: Green gram is the important pulse crop of India and grown under extensive agroclimatic condition in India for its versatile uses. Moreover, extreme and inappropriate use of inorganic nutrients deteriorated the soil quality by reducing the soil microbial population and also declined the quality of crops. Now a days, majority of population living in urban and rural area had demand for safe and healthy food for which inclusive food production technology needs to be developed with priority on quality enhancement and yield stability. In fact, it is not possible for farmers to directly shift from inorganic source of nutrients to organics in their crop production as it may lead to decrease in crop yields in the initial years. This may be possible due to substitution of organic sources of nutrients in place of inorganics to fulfil the crop nutrient requirement for accomplishing higher and stable crop yield of better quality with upgradation in soil health. Therefore, the present study was carried out to evaluate the influence of differential substitution of nutrients through organics on growth, yield and nutrient content of green gram (Vigna radiata) in irrigated sub-tropical region of J and K. Methods: The experiment was conducted for two consecutive years in field during summer 2016 and 2017 at research farm of division of Agronomy located at latitude and longitude of 32°40' N and 73°64' E at Skuast-Jammu. Experiment was laid out with 16 treatments and three replications. Green gram variety “SML-668” was grown as per their respective recommended packages of cultivation except for the nutrient-N and its organic sources which were applied as per the treatments. Nutrient content of green gram was worked out in the laboratory following standard procedures. Result: The pooled result of the two-year study of green gram concluded that significantly highest growth parameters and yield of green gram were recorded with treatment 100% recommended dose of fertilizer whereas significantly lowest value of all these parameters were recorded with treatment 100% NPK through FYM. Numerically highest value of NPK content in seed and stover of green gram after two-year experiment was recorded with treatment 100% NPK through FYM whereas highest gross returns, net returns and b:c ratio were recorded with treatment 100% recommended dose of fertilizer when compared with other treatments.