Journal of

FOOD LEGUMES
An Official Journal of Indian Society of Pulses Research and Development (Registration No. 877)
ISSN: 0970-6380; Online ISSN: 0976-2434

The Indian Society of Pulses Research and Development (ISPRD) was founded in April 1987 with the following
objectives:
• To promote research, development and extension activities in pulses
• To facilitate close association amongst pulse workers nationally and internationally
• To publish “Journal of Food Legumes”, a quality research journal of the Society
Membership: any person interested in pulses research and development is eligible for membership of the Society
by becoming ordinary, life or corporate member by paying respective membership fee as detailed below:
Membership Fee Indian (Rs.) Foreign (US$)
Ordinary (Annual) 500 40
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Admission Fee 50 10
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Corporate Member 7500 –
Contribution to the Journal, except in case of invited articles, is open to the members of the society only. Any
non-member submitting a manuscript will be required to become at least an annual member. Members will be
entitled to receive the Journal and other communications issued by the Society. Renewal of the subscription is due
in January each year. If the subscription is not received by February 15, the membership will stand cancelled and
can be revived by paying readmission fee of Rs. 50/-. The membership fee will be paid through online bank
transfer as per given details:
Account Holder’s name: INDIAN SOCIETY OF PULSES RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Name of the Bank: Union Bank of India
Address: Kalyanpur-Kanpur 208024
Account No.: 349502010003620
IFSC Code: UBIN0534951
Communication regarding transfer of membership fee alongwith the transfer receipt should be communicated
to Secretary, ISPRD, ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur-208024, India at secretary.isprd@gmail.com.

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL 2020-2023

Chief Patron
Dr Trilochan Mohapatra
Patron Co-Patron
Dr TR Sharma Dr NP Singh
President: IP Singh, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur
Vice-President: Rajeev Varshney, ICRISAT, Hyderabad
Secretary: Aditya Pratap, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur
Joint Secretary: CS Praharaj, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur
Treasurer: DR Mishra, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur
Councilors
AK Srivastava, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur; Ravinder Singh, PAU, Ludhiana; C. Bharadwaj, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi;
Mudalgiriyappa, GKVK UAS, Bengaluru; S.S. Punia, CoA, Bharatpur, Rajasthan; RP Singh, RAK College, Sehore
Editor-in-Chief
Meenal Rathore
ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, India
Editorial Board
SK Sharma, Palampur, India; Pooran Gaur, ICRISAT, Hyderabad, India; Nguyen, Henry T, Columbia, USA; Suk-Ha
Lee, Seoul, Korea; Kadambot Siddique, Perth, Australia; Shiv Kumar, ICARDA, Morocco; Ramakrishnan Madhavan
Nair, WorldVeg, Hyderabad, India; Liao Boshou, China; Sushil Chaturvedi, Jhansi, India; AR Sharma, Jhansi, India;
Jayamani P, Coimbatore, India; PS Basu, Kanpur, India; Jitendra Kumar, Kanpur, India; Dinesh Yadav, Gorakhpur,
India; Harsh Nayyar, Chandigarh, India; Harsh K Dikshit, New Delhi, India; A Amarender Reddy, Hyderabad, India;
Uma Sah, Kanpur, India; Mohd. Akram, Kanpur, India; Gaurav K Taggar, Ludhiana, India; ; Sanjeev Kumar, Patna,
India; Sanjay Singh Rathore, New Delhi, India; Narendra Kumar, Kanpur, India; Prasoon Verma, Kanpur, India;
Senthil Kumar, Kanpur, India
 Journal of
FOOD LEGUMES
An Official Journal of Indian Society of Pulses Research and Development
ISSN: 0970-6380; Online ISSN: 0976-2434

Vol. 33 (3) July-September, 2020

Contents
CURRENT AFFAIRS
1. Gene Editing: novel tool for harnessing the genome for pulse improvement 137
Kiran Sharma

RESEARCH PAPERS
2. Issues and strategies for promotion of pulses in untapped rice-fallow in India: 139
A review
Narendra Kumar, SS Singh, PK Ghosh, NP Singh, PK Agrawal, KK Hazara,
CS Praharaj, Arti Yadav, SL Yadav and Saumya Singh
3. Nutrient uptake, zinc use efficiency and yield of pigeon pea as influenced by 151
various modes of zinc application under rainfed condition
DS Yashona, US Mishra, SB Aher, P Sirothia and SP Mishra
3. Effect of foliar nutrition on yield and economics of mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) 160
Wilczek]
Kirti Manjhi, Phoolbai Masram, HS Kushwaha and Dipali Singh
4. Association among yield and yield contributing characters in Chickpea 164
(Cicer arietinum L.)
SK Jain, LD Sharma, KC Gupta and Vipin Kumar
5. Phenology, thermal indices and yield of summer greengram [Vigna radiata (L.) 170
Wilczek] under different sowing dates in Gangetic plains of West Bengal
Kunal Kumar, Mrityunjay Ghosh, S Dolui, Sibajee Banerjee and A Saha
6. Yield gap analysis and economics of front line demonstrations of chickpea 175
(Cicer arietinum L.) under humid south eastern plain zone of Rajasthan
RK Shivran, Rajesh Kumar, Ummed Singh and CS Praharaj
7. Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) landrace diversity of North-Western Kashmir 181
Himalayas: Pattern of variation for morphological and yield traits and pod
cooking quality
Parvaze A. Sofi, Iram Saba, Asmat Ara, Sadia Shafi, Saima Gani, Rani Shama,
Rayees Ahmad and Ba Padder
8. Weed management in blackgram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper] during wet season in 191
North Central Plateau Zone of Odisha
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty, Poly Saha, Kishore Chandra Sahoo, Sukumar Tudu,
Monika Ray, Srimanta Kumar Sahoo1, Sujata Das and Nityamanjari Mishra
9. Effect of male sterility inducing cytoplasm on grain yield and component traits 195
in pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.)
Onkarappa, T, Hanumaraddi, GS and Sowmya, HH
10. Field efficacy of some selected insecticides against whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, 201
a vector of yellow mosaic disease in greengram
S Ambarish, CM Kalleshwaraswamy and V Venkataravanappa

SHORT COMMUNICATION
11. Productivity and profitability of soybean as influenced by site-specific nutrient 207
management under mid-hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh
Janardan Singh

COMMENTARY
12. Genetic improvement for smarter pulses: Need of the hour 210
NP Singh

List of Referees for Vol. 33(3) 212

 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3): 137-138, 2020

Current Affairs
Gene Editing: novel tool for harnessing the genome for
pulse improvement
KIRAN SHARMA

International Crops Research Institute The current Deputy Director General-Research at the
for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid
Patancheru, India
Tropics (ICRISAT), Dr Kiran Sharma is also Theme
E-mail: k. sharma@cgiar.org Leader for the Agribusiness and Innovation Platform
(AIP), and Principal Scientist- Cell & Molecular Biology
at ICRISAT, based in Hyderabad/India. With a PhD from
the University of Delhi in Botany (Experimental Plant
Morphogenesis), and post-doctoral training from the
University of Calgary in Canada, Dr Sharma has over
30 years’ experience in Cell, Molecular biology and
Genetic engineering for crop improvement, performing
multidisciplinary research with a thorough understanding of the global
agricultural R&D trends, needs and challenges. Dr. Sharma has led several
projects with multiple partners and has been proactively involved in policy
and regulatory issues related to biotechnology and intellectual property rights
in India and the region. He has been leading the CGIAR Research Project on
Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals (CRP-GLDC) as its Director.

Over the past few decades, science has made huge
strides in the improvement of crops for food, feed, and
forage across the globe. Fascinatingly, there has been
a constant developmental change in both crop and
healthcare systems that has helped us discover newer
technologies with each passing decade. However,
globally, the demand for food security has spiked due
to the ever-growing human population and its
requirement of quality diet with rising market prices.
Thus, increasing food security by ensuring sustained
availability of nutritious food while natural resources
are diminishing has become a matter of challange.
Both national and international agricultural research
systems have set up goals to achieve better resilient
high-yielding cultivars in a reduced time frame to
achieve these needs.
For the next iteration of technological
advancements following the massive genomic data
sets available in most of the food crops, precision
breeding is increasingly being undertaken in the
modernized crop breeding platforms, to provide
transformational solutions to some of the most
“intractable” and “game changing” traits to
accomplish the intended increases in the rate of genetic
gains. Genome editing, a cutting edge technology
works with genes that are native to the plant in
question and offers possibilities that are beyond the
reach of more conventional breeding techniques.
Besides the model species, genome editing has
been successfully deployed in several crops including
soybean, canola, corn, wheat, sorghum and rice.
Editing tools such as TALENs (Transcription
activator-like effecter nucleases), ZFNs (Zinc-finger
nucleases) and CRISPR (Clustered regularly
interspaced short palindromic repeats) have been
reported in crop plants to advance agricultural
sustainability and nutrition security with significant
interest. CRISPR-Cas systems have gained much
popularity as a revolutionary genome-engineering tool
because of their ease of use and multiple genome
editing applications.
Grain legumes and pulses constitute human diets
across the globe and largely contribute to the
nutritional security and livelihoods of millions of small
holder farmers in Asia, particularly in the Indian
subcontinent. The combination of genomics,
phenomics and gene editing offer tremendous
potential to provide legume breeders with an ideal
toolbox to develop elite germplasm that not only can
enhance productivity and sustainability of these food
and nutritional security crops, but would also enable
a disruptive reduction in the cost of development of
farmer- and consumer-centric traits. They also provide
a means to work in parallel on more complex traits
such as photoperiod sensitivity, heterosis, as well as
abiotic/ biotic stress tolerance and yield enhancement.
138 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020
Moreover, the available genetic resources and
collections harbour a wealth of undisclosed allelic
variants for relevant traits that are yet to be tagged
and utilized for pulse improvement. Gene editing
enables the use of this enormous genetic diversity
present in wild species or uncultured varieties of crops
as a source of allele-mining, potentially expanding the
crop germplasm pool. In its simplest form, it can
generate specific genetic variants that are
indistinguishable from naturally evolved variants.
Additionally, direct improvement of elite varieties by
genome editing does not introduce potentially
deleterious alleles from crossing and recombination,
besides offering its multiplexing ability to target
multiple genes/ alleles simultaneously in an efficient
way. This would enable immediate pyramiding of
multiple beneficial traits into an elite background
within one to two generations.
Continuous advancements in the gene editing
tools such as CRISPR/Cas in combination with the
advanced breeding methodologies like speed breeding
offer more efficient and reliable means of developing
elite cultivars in a safer and quicker way. CGIAR
centers like the International Crops Research Institute
for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) have been
working together with partners from the National
Agricultural Research Systems on genome editing
strategically in partnership with industry to create the
research ecosystem that is much needed. However, the
inconsistency in regulating the products of plant
varieties developed through gene editing methods is a
major challenge in the successful adoption of this
technology in global crop improvement programmes.
Currently, there is no internationally agreed regulatory
framework for gene editing and with an exception of
few, several countries including India are still working
on their regulatory position on biosafety regulation or
non-regulation for the genome-edited crops. Hence,
there is an urgent need for science-based, predictable,
proportionate regulatory policies for gene editing with
clear timelines and scope to develop innovative
agricultural products and integrated solutions for
farmers and consumers.
 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3): 139-150, 2020

Issues and strategies for promotion of pulses in untapped rice-fallow in

India: A review
NARENDRA KUMAR*1, SS SINGH2, PK GHOSH3, NP SINGH1, PK AGRAWAL4,
KK HAZARA1, CS PRAHARAJ1, ARTI YADAV1, SL YADAV1 and SAUMYA SINGH1

1
ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses
Research, Kanpur – 208 024, Uttar
Pradesh
2
Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural
University, Jhansi – 284003, Uttar
Pradesh
3
ICAR - National Institute of Biotic
Stress Management, Raipur - 493225,
Chhattisgarh,
4
ICAR-National Agricultural Science
Fund (NASF), KAB-I, New Delhi - 110
01 2
*E-mail: nkumar.icar@gmail.com
Received: August 5, 2020
Accepted: November 9, 2020
Handling Editor:
Dr. Amarender Reddy, ICAR-CRIDA,
Hyderabad
ABSTRACT
Out of 43.95 m ha under rice in India, about 11.7 m ha area remains fallow after
the rice harvest. A number of abiotic, biotic and socio-economic factors limit
cultivation of crops after rice in these areas. Factors like low soil moisture
content after rice harvest followed by fast decline in water table with
advancement of crop season and mid-and terminal-drought at flowering and
pod filling stages are the major bottlenecks for growing of crops in rice fallow.
Pulses like lentil, chickpea, urdbean, mungbean and lathyrus are the candidate
crops for rice fallow due to their better survival under surface seeding and
rainfed situation. The inherited soil physical and biological constraints of rice
fallow affect pulses seed germination, seedling emergence and crop
establishment due to disruption of soil structure, poor aeration and mechanical
impedance in the seed zone. To exploit these areas under rice fallow with
pulses, location specific resource conservation practices may be fallowed. The
present paper deals with the constraints and strategies related to rice fallow-
pulse system in different agro ecological regions of the country.
Key words: Abiotic stress, Biotic stress, Constraints, Cropping system, Resource
conservation, Rice fallow.

1. INTRODUCTION opportunities, rice-fallow systems did not get enough

In India, rice is cultivated across the length and
width of the country occupying 43.95 million hectares
(DAC, 2015). It is grown both under irrigated and
rainfed conditions under various cropping systems.
In irrigated areas, rice-wheat, rice-rice, rice-sugarcane,
rice-groundnut, rice-vegetables and rice-mustard are
important crop rotations whereas in rainfed areas, rice-
pulses, rice-sunflower, rice-sesame and rice-fallow are
prevalent (Frolking et al. 2006; Yadav and Subba Rao
2001). More than 11 million hectares of land in India
is left fallow after rice harvest due to number of biotic,
abiotic and socio-economic constraints (Subbarao et
al. 2001). Out of them, 82% areas of rice-fallow lies in
the states of Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,
Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal
and North Eastern states. The remaining 18% area in
states likes Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra
Pradesh (Das et al. 2013; Joshi et al. 2002; Pande et al.
2010) which gives a large scope for expansion of area
under pulse crops (Subbarao et al. 2001). The details of
rice fallow areas are given in Table 1. Despite of ample
attention in the past.
Pulses with properties like low input
requirements, short duration, ability to establish with
surface broadcast in standing rice fields and soil
fertility restoration are ideal for rice fallow (Ali et al.
2014). They are rich source of protein and have ability
to fix atmospheric nitrogen and thus improve soil
fertility (Joshi 1998). Pulses are an effective source of
reversing the process of soil deterioration and can
contribute significantly to achieving the twin objectives
of increasing productivity and improving the
sustainability of the cereal based cropping system
(Ahlawat et al. 1998; Ahmed et al. 2001; Ali et al. 2012a;
Lauren et al. 1998; Sharma and Sharma 2006; Yadav et
al. 1998). The existing rice fallow area (11.7 mha) is
almost equivalent to the net sown area of Punjab,
Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh –the sheet of green
revolution in India (DAC 2015; Joshi et al. 2002). If this
area is brought under cultivation it may benefit
millions of poor and small farmers solely dependent
on agriculture for their livelihood. The nation would
140 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

also save foreign exchange incurred in importing Table 2. Potential areas in rice fallows for pulses
pulses and ensuring nutritional security of poor production.
section of the society. Better utilization of rice fallows Crop States Approx.
by cultivating pulses should improve soil organic additional area
(Lakhs ha)
matter and fertility status, thereby contributing to the
Chickpea Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, 47.00
long-term sustainability of rice based cropping (Kumar Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,
Rao et al. 1998; Sharma et al. 1995). Traditionally, Chhattisgarh
lathyrus and lentil are sown after rice under relay Urdbean/mungbean Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, 23.30
Tamil Nadu, Orissa
cropping in low land rice fields of Bihar, eastern Uttar
Lathyrus West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, 3.16
Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and urdbean/mungbean Chhattisgarh, Bihar
in coastal peninsula (Ali et al. 2014; Das 2000; Gupta Lentil Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, 25.03
and Bhowmick 2005; Sharma and Pandey 2001). Non- Karnataka, Assam, Meghalaya,
NE States
availability of quality seeds of pulses suitable for rice
fallow in desired quantity (NAAS 2013) at appropriate Source: IIPR (2013)
time and reasonable cost is also a big hurdle.
2. Issues in rice fallow
Table 1. State-wise estimates of rice fallow area during
rabi (2007-08). Pulses productivity in rice fallow is generally low
due to various abiotic stress (drought, high
State Kharif-Rice Rabi-Fallow Rice fallow area as
Area ('000ha)* % of total kharif temperature, etc,), biotic stress (pests and diseases),
('000 ha) rice area poor crop management and socio-economic reasons.
Madhya 5311.3 4,382 82.5 However, in general the major constraints in rice
Pradesh and fallow areas can be grouped into three main categories
Chhattisgarh
Bihar 3462.2 2,196 63.43 viz., abiotic, biotic and socio-economic.
West Bengal 4208.1 1,719 40.85
Assam 2001.0 539 26.94 2.1 General constraints:
Uttar Pradesh 5690.0 353 6.2
Others 18781.8 2,463 13.11 2.1.1 Abiotic constraints
Total 39454.4 11,652 29.53
*Source: ICRISAT (2009)
Low fertility, problematic soils and unpredictable
environmental conditions are major abiotic constraints
which lead to low pulse production in rice fallow
In early 1960’s rice fallow states were the major
during past several years. Soil moisture and high
contributors i.e., 2/3 of area and 1/2 of pulse
temperature are the major constraints in rice fallow.
production in India. But in early 2000s, the area and
Drought and High temperature (>35oC) stress at
production share declined drastically, although at the
flowering and pod filling stages adversely affect the
national level these witnessed a positive trend, the
productivity of pulses in rice fallow and reduces seed
increased yield have compensated the steeper fall in
yields up to 50% (Toker and Cagirgan 1998). Another
production of pulses in rice fallow. Amongst the rabi
major problem is soil salinity and alkalinity which
pulses, the area under chickpea declined in Madhya
restrict the root and shoot growth of pulses. Soil acidity
Pradesh, lentil in West Bengal and lathyrus in all the
is the major problems in eastern India, on the other
rice fallow states. About 0.5 million ha area of rice
hand salinity and alkalinity in rice fallow areas of
fallows are already under pulses. An additional 2.0 to
lower and middle Gangetic plains and in central India
3.0 million ha rice fallow area can be brought under
(De Datta 1981). The unfavorable soil physico-
pulses cultivation by introducing disease resistant and
chemical conditions restrict the growth of the pulse
short duration new varieties along with improved
crops due to less availability of nutrients, less microbial
production technologies, especially for in-situ
(rhizobium) activity and poor root growth (Adisarwanto
conservation of residual soil moisture in different states
et al. 1989; Awadhwal et al. 1989; Kirchhof et al. 2000;
as shown in Table 2.
Pasaribu and McIntosh 1985; Oussible et al. 1992;
Bringing fallow land under pulse cultivation Sharma et al. 2003; Sharma and De Datta 1985). Besides
would help in overcoming many of the social and the inherent constraints, rice fallow also affect seed
economic problems of these regions (Joshi et al. 2002). germination, seedling emergence and crop
A detailed SWOT analysis of rice fallow regions was establishment due to disruption of soil structure, soil
made to explore the possibility of promoting pulses water deficit, poor aeration and mechanical
and bringing additional area under pulses (Table 3). impedance of the seed zone (Adisrwanto et al. 1989;
 Kumar et al. : Issues and strategies for promotion of pulses in untapped rice-fallow in India: A review 141

Table 3. SWOT analysis of rice fallow areas.

Description Characteristics
Strength  Availability of large area (11.7 m ha) under rice fallow in diverse agro-ecological regions
 Availability of early maturing varieties of rice and pulses suitable for rice fallow situation (System approach)
 On an average, monsoon rainfall is good and available soil moisture is sufficient for seed germination followed by 1 or 2
winter rainfall
 Technical and economic feasibility of pulses cultivation
Weaknesses  Very low extent of cultivation
 Delayed sowing of rice and lack of initiative to introduce early maturing rice variety
 Uncertain winter rainfall
 Lack of appropriate varieties of pulse crops suitable for diverse agro ecological regions of rice fallow
 Use of poor quality seed with low germination (local seed)
 Higher incidence of insect-pests and diseases in pulses
 Lack of irrigation facilities
 Non practice of foliar application of 2% urea/DAP
 Terminal drought and heat stress during the reproductive and grain filling stage
 Lack of efficient machines for tillage, sowing and weeding for pulses
 Weak extension system for effective transfer of improved technologies
 Poor understanding the ecology of rice fallow
Opportunities  Availability of pulses for cultivation on residual soil moisture
 Pulses are low input requiring crops
 Resource conservation technology is available for both the crops
 Pulses can intercrop with competitive crops like oilseeds, sorghum and maize
 Income augmentation
 Employment generation
Threats  Low and instable yield
 Production risks due to uncertain rainfall and high incidence of insect-pests and diseases
 Timely non-availability of key inputs (Fertilizer, seeds, pesticides etc.)
 Low or no input application
Source: Joshi et al. (2002) and author’s inputs based on field experience.

IRRI 1984; Mahata et al. 1990; So and Woodhead 1987; stubbles, sowing of rabi pulses are delayed and
Varade 1990; Woodhead 1990). Amongst these, soil germination will also be affected due to formation of
hardiness is the most limiting factor followed by low large size clods.
organic matter content in the soil. Soil hardiness in
the puddled rice fields deteriorates the hydraulic 2.1.2 Biotic constraints
properties of the soil, which adversely affects the soil Due to anaerobic conditions in rice cultivation,
moisture distribution and root growth of deep rooted many of the organisms including rhizobia would not
pulses (Adisarwanto et al. 1989). This hostile be able to survive (Adisarwanto et al. 1989). Even if the
environment creates potential threat to microbial crop is sown timely and established well, pulses
activity, nutrient availability, root growth (root is experience high incidence of insect pests and diseases.
mostly confined in top soil layer) and water and In fact, detailed studies on disease pest dynamics of
nutrients uptake, thus sub-soil resources in rice fallow pulses in rice fallow are not done. Evidence indicates
remain unutilized. Under relay (paira) cropping, plant that pulses are the most susceptible to damage by
population is often low because of low seed insects (Deshpande and Singh 2001). In chickpea,
germination due to poor contact of seed with soil, seed insect pests (particularly Helicoverpa) are reported to
rotting as well as dryness of soil in patches. If be a potentially threat in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and
ploughing is done after harvest of rice to remove Madhya Pradesh (Table 4). Diseases are also viewed
Table 4. Constraints in relay cropping and in rice fallows.
Crop Stress
Biotic Abiotic
Chickpea FW, root rot, chickpea stunt, BGM, pod-borer Low and high temperature, Terminal drought
Mungbean MYMV, root and stem rot, stem agromyza, sucking insect pests high temperature, terminal drought, excessive soil moisture at
stress, Pre-harvest sprouting, sowing
Urdbean MYMV, root and stem rot, stem agromyza Pre-harvest sprouting, temperature stress, terminal drought, excessive soil at sowing
Lentil FW, root rot, rust Soil moisture, high temperature (under late sown)
BGM= Botrytis Gray Mould, FW= Fusarium Wilt, MYMV= Mungbean Yellow Mosaic Virus.
142 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020
as a severe problem. In Odisha and West Bengal, area
under chickpea is small and farmers perhaps are not
much aware of the pest problem. Non- availability of
pesticides in adequate quantity and at right time is
also an important hindrance in cultivation. Another
important pest affecting pulses are nematodes, among
which root-knot nematodes are important in terms of
spread and damage to crop yield in rice fallow areas
(Ali 2009). Powdery mildew is a serious disease of rabi
planted urdbean and mungbean (Ali et al. 2012; Thakur
and Agrawal 1995). Similarly, rust and Fusarium wilt
are common in lentil (Choudhary et al. 2013; NAAS
2013; Sen Gupta 1974).
2.1.3 Socio-economic constraints
Lack of knowledge, non availability of improved
seed and poor technical guidance are few socio-
economic institutional constraints (Joshi et al. 2002;
Pande et al. 2003; Subbarao et al. 2001) while seed
storage, poor irrigation and poor marketing were socio-
economic infrastructural constraints (Ali and Gupta
2012; Amarender Reddy 2004) in pulses production
in rice fallows. Public extension system is weak to
effectively deliver the technology, inputs and
information to the farmers (Balaji et al. 2007; Singh et
al. 2012). In most part of the country improving farmer’s
access to information related to crops and their
cultivation practices is important in the process of
utilization of fallow areas. As per farmer’s perspective,
states with rice fallow are inhabited by poor people
(Joshi et al. 2002), scarcity of labor is the biggest
bottleneck during the sowing and intercultural
operations. This is because of higher demand for labour
for rice harvesting and threshing, while at the same
time farmers have to quickly sow the next crop so as to
utilize the available soil moisture. Some farmers do
not possess draft power and thus they also need credit
support to acquire bullocks or tractor to ensure
timeliness in sowing. The net result of non-utilization
of this vital resource is agricultural backwardness, low
levels of income or rural population, abject poverty
and unemployment (Joshi et al. 2002). In addition,
cattle grazing and stray cattle are another big issue in
many parts of the rice fallow areas after harvest of rice
crop.
Sometimes, farmers lack information on different
soil conservation technologies and sowing
technologies that help to germinate the seed in low
moisture regime. Poor farmers lack sufficient capital
to purchase critical inputs such as seed, fertilizer and
pesticides. Non-availability of these inputs particularly
quality seeds are constrains of growing rabi crops in
rice fallows. Low volume of produce and lack of proper
markets may deprive the small and marginal producer
to get the market price. Non-availability of high
yielding, early maturing and disease resistant varieties
at village level and improved post-harvest
technologies to reduce post harvest losses also hinder
cultivation of pulse crops in rice fallow areas.
2.2 Zone-wise specific constraints
On the basis of soil and agro-climatic conditions,
rice fallow may be classified into three sub groups i.e.,
Eastern and North-East region (Eastern Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal and Assam) where lentil
and lathyrus are grown after rice under relay cropping
(paira) except in Odisha where mungbean performs
well. The second is Central region (Chhattisgarh,
Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra) where lathyrus
and lentil are traditionally broadcast as paira crop.
The last is Coastal areas (coastal areas of AP, Tamil
Nadu and Karnataka): excessive soil moisture and mild
winter are main characteristics of the region which
favoring urdbean and mungbean cultivation after rice
harvest (Ghosh et al. 2012).
2.2.1 Eastern and north-east region
In Eastern and north-eastern region of India, a
large part of the area remains fallow after the kharif
season rice (Das et al. 2012). The soils of this region are
deep alluvial and calcareous in nature except in upper
Assam where acid soils are prevalent. Soils are
generally deficient in OC, P and Zn. Excessive
moisture or water logging is common in low lands
during October/November (at harvest of rice). During
rabi season, due to excess moisture owing to seepage
from surrounding hillocks in rice fallow, land
preparation is very difficult. Winter is severe and stray
cattle after harvest of rice are serious threat to next
crop. Under this region lentil has a very good potential
for increasing farm income as well as cropping
intensity (Das et al. 2013). The eastern part of India is
West Bengal bordering with Bangladesh, is a unique
example where rice is cultivated in all the three seasons
viz., summer, autumn and winter. The State has to
feed almost 70 million people with the support of only
5.8 million hectares of cultivable land. Due to high
ODAP content in local land races of lathyrus (Mehra
et al. 1996; Srivastava and Khokhar 1996) and also
with the advent of irrigation facilities, the farmers
tended to shift from relay cropping of lathyrus to more
remunerative crops like rapeseed, mustard, potato,
other vegetables and winter rice which require more
water. Thus the area under lathyrus, in particular,
diminished drastically in these regions. Huke (1982)
reported that in high altitudes of north eastern India
 Kumar et al. : Issues and strategies for promotion of pulses in untapped rice-fallow in India: A review 143

low temperature is a constraint where a high night
temperature in lower altitudes limits pulses growth
and yield, thus temperature becomes one of the
important production constraints.
2.2.2 Central India
The region covers Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh
and Maharashtra. The mean rainfall of these states is
about 1,000 mm and the coefficient of variation of the
rainfall is 20-25%. Moisture stress is the oft-cited reason
for crop failures in this region. Terminal drought and
high temperature stress results in forced maturity with
low yields (Basu et al. 2009; Erskine et al. 1993;
Summerfield et al. 1984). Drought stress alone may
reduce seed yields up to 50 per cent (Conci and Toker
2009). Thus, a quantum jump in productivity can be
achieved by applying life saving irrigation especially
in rabi pulses grown on residual moisture (Reddy
2009). Soils in these regions are generally deltaic
alluvial, coastal alluvial, laterite, red loamy, medium
black, red sandy, deep black, sandy red and black,
mixed red and black with pockets of acidic and saline
soils with pH 5.0 to 8.0. These soils are generally
deficient in nitrogen, organic matter and calcium.
Laterite soils are usually low in nutrient status, organic
matter with poor water holding capacity and strongly
acidic. Early withdrawal of rains leads to soil moisture
stress at planting of winter crops is major concern.
Relay (paira) cropping of lentil/lathyrus is more
common in this region. Seeds of lathyus/lentil are
broadcasted in standing rice field at 7-15 days before
harvesting of rice. This region offers great scope for
promoting chickpea in rice fallow. However,
susceptibility of chickpea to root rot and wilt as well
as to the pod borer Helicoverpa armigera are the major
concern in this region.
2.2.3 Coastal peninsula
Coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu
and Karnataka are covered under this region.
Excessive soil moisture during early crop growth
stage, severe soil moisture stress during reproductive
phase and mild winter are main characteristics of the
region. Short growing period and mild winter
favouring urdbean and mungbean cultivation in this
region after rice under relay cropping. The region
receives bi-modal rains. Sowing of urdbean and
mungbean under rice fallow conditions if delayed
beyond 31st January, there is drastic reduction in the
productivity of these crops. Poor plant stand and
terminal moisture stress are the two major constraints
for rice fallow pulses in this region. Urdbean and
mungbean are susceptible to Mungbean Yellow
Mosaic Virus (MYMV), besides they are susceptible to
powdery mildew, cercospora leaf spot and leaf curl
virus. Similarly, with the traditional practices of rice-
pulse relay cropping prevalent in the state of West
Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Tamil
Nadu, the productivity of pulses (lentil, lathyrus,
mungbean, blackgram) is very low because of
insufficient plant population possibly due to poor
seed-soil contact, low soil moisture, severe weed
infestation and low microbial population.
3. Strategy for improving pulses productivity in
rice fallow
Productivity and profitability from second crop
in rice fallow can be improved with suitable crop
management technique even by utilizing residual soil
moisture (Kar et al. 2004; Pratibha et al. 1996). By
adopting improved technologies like resource
conservation, improved variety, optimum time of
sowing, plant population, suitable biofertilizers
inoculation, fertilizer application methods, timely
weed management practices, need based plant
protection measures coupled with proper irrigation
schedule (life saving irrigation at critical crop growth
stages) would definitely increased the yield of pulses
in rice fallow agro-ecological regions. The major rice
based cropping systems are also identified (Table 5)

Table 5. Rice based major cropping systems in rice fallow states.

State Rice based cropping system
Andhra Pradesh Rice-rice, rice-groundnut, rice-pulse, rice-fallow, fallow-rice
Bihar Rice-rice, rice-chickpea, rice-oilseed, rice-potato, rice-pulse, rice-fallow
Karnataka Rice-rice, rice-groundnut, rice-pulse, rice-fallow
Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh Rice-millet, rice-oilseed, rice-pulse, rice-wheat, rice-fallow
Odisha Rice-rice, rice-groundnut, rice-pulse, rice-vegetable, rice-fallow,
Tamil Nadu Rice-rice, rice-rice-groundnut, rice-pulse, rice-sorghum, rice-vegetable, rice-fibre crop, rice-groundnut, rice-
sugarcane, rice-fallow, rice-rice-fallow
Uttar Pradesh Rice-oilseed, rice-potato, Rice-potato-mungbean, rice-lentil/chickpea, rice-vegetable, rice-wheat, Maize/bajra-
chickpea, pigeonpea-wheat, fallow-chickpea, rice-fallow
West Bengal Rice-rice, rice-oilseed-rice, rice-pulse rice-potato, rice-lentil/chickpea, rice-vegetable, rice-wheat, rice-sunhemp,
rice-vegetable-sunhemp, rice-potato, rice-fallow
Eastern states Rice-groundnut, rice-millet, rice-pulse, rice-sorghum, rice-oilseeds, rice-fallow
144 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

in rice fallow regions that can be considered before

finalization of strategies for promotion of pulses in
these regions. In this paper following five approaches
are highlighted to increase productivity of pulses in
rice fallow-

3.1 Resource conservation technology (RCT)

Abiotic stress is the prime factor hindering pulses
production in rice fallows in which more than 50% of
problems are due to degraded puddle rice soil, soil
compaction and soil hardiness. RCT which deals with
soil moisture conservation, organic matter build-up,
improvement in soil structure and microbial
population could be an appropriate approach to
address these problems in rice fallow. Therefore, if crop
residues are retained on the soil surface in combination Fig 1. Pulse seed broadcasting in rice before harvest
with suitable planting techniques (zero-till planting
or paira cropping), it may alleviate terminal drought
condition in pulses by conserving soil moisture and
bring overall improvement in resource management
(Kumar et al. 2013). Minimum soil traffic by adoption
of suitable technology involving no-tillage and
minimum soil disturbance and management of crop
residues (conservation tillage) could lead to favourable
effect on soil properties that further enhance the overall
resource use and production capacity of pulses in rice
fallow (Kumar et al. 2015).
Conservation tillage with proper crop residue
management is found to reduce soil water evaporation,
soil sealing and crusting (Gangwar et al. 2006; Kumar
et al. 2013; Meelu et al. 1994; Verma and Bhagat 1992).
It is also evident that hydraulic conductivity under
straw-retained under zero-till drill is up to 4 times Fig 2. Urdbean crop in stubbles
greater than that of straw-burnt conventional tillage
(Chan and Heenan 1993). In fact higher yield of pulse retained in the field (Figure 2). Under other system
after wet season (rainy season) rice with reduced where pulses are sown after harvest of rice with land
tillage was also reported by Pratibha et al. (1996) and preparation, zero-till seeding may be advocated as it
Mahata et al. (1992) from the rainfed areas of eastern facilitates advance planting by 7 to 10 days and saves
India. This will also reduce cost of cultivation through energy and labour.
savings in labour, time and farm power, and improve
input-use efficiency. In north-eastern hill (NEH) region 3.2 Varietal approach
of the country, during rabi season due to excess
 Early to medium duration varieties of rice needs
moisture owing to seepage from surrounding hillocks
to be introduced to enable farmers to grow pulses
in rice fallow, the productivity of pulses remain very
on residual soil moisture in time.
low. Simply field drainage in such situation may
improve pulses productivity and consequently bring  Depending upon winter temperature, soil texture
substantial area under pulse production. Two basic and soil moisture, selection of pulse crop should
principles of RCTs viz., no-tillage and retention of crop be made. In rice fallows, small seeded varieties
residue on soil surface are already followed under relay perform better than large seeded due to better
(paira) system of production. Under this system seeds contact with soil, less rotting and thus better plant
of pulses (lentil, lathyrus and urdbean) are stand. In central region, small seeded chickpea
broadcasted in standing rice field without any tillage may be introduced although lentil has an edge
(Figure 1). Further, 20-30% rice residue as stubbles are over chickpea. Lathyrus is most versatile and
 Kumar et al. : Issues and strategies for promotion of pulses in untapped rice-fallow in India: A review
hardy crop being ideal both for north-east and
central zone but due to its ODAP content and
consequent ban on its trade; it is being replaced
by lentil. However, the newly developed lathyrus
varieties ‘Ratan’, ‘Parteek’ and ‘Mahateora’ have
low ODAP content and suitable for rice fallows.
In coastal region, powdery mildew is a fatal
disease in urdbean and mungbean which was
restricted by developing resistant varieties like
‘LBG 17’, ‘LBG 602’, ‘LBG 623’ of urdbean and
‘Pusa 9072’, ‘NARM -1’, ‘NARM-18’. ‘LBG 17’
was the first powdery mildew resistant urdbean
variety with yield potential of 1.5 t/ha
revolutionized rabi urdbean cultivation in rice
fallow of coastal peninsula (Satyanarayana et
al. 1997). Small seeded lentil varieties ‘WBL 77’,
‘KLS 218’, ‘NM 1’, and ‘DPL 15’ having resistance
to rust are performing well in NEH.
 Introduction of fast growing, early high biomass
accumulation and early maturing type pulse
genotypes for proper utilization of residual soil
moisture and escaping of terminal drought. Apart
from these, availability of quality seeds is to be
ensured on time.
3.3 Production technology
 Timely sowing of short duration rice followed by
short duration pulses in rice-fallow need to be
ensured for successful crop of pulses.
Intercropping of pulses with competitive crops
like oilseeds or sorghum can also be followed for
risk minimization and income augmentation
(Sarkar and Chakraborty 2000; Sarkar and
Sanyal 2000).
 In rice fallow, generally no manure/fertilizer is
applied due to no-tillage under relay planting
and consequently pulse crop face nutrient stress.
The physical condition of soil and rhizobial
population is poor due to anaerobic condition
under transplanted rice and consequently
nutrient mobilization is also reduced. Site-
specific application of required amount of
organic matter to rice in any form (FYM/green
manure/crop residue incorporation/Azolla) is
must to improve the deteriorated soil structure in
puddled rice soil (Kumar et al. 2014). Once the
soil structure is improved, it will take care of water
holding capacity, availability of nutrient and
carry over soil moisture to enhance the activity of
native rhizobium and productivity of pulse
crops. In fact, fertilizer scheduling in rice will be
on IPNS mode to benefit succeeding pulses.
145
Pulses grown in rice fallow may or may not
respond to direct application of rhizobium/PSB,
however, the residual effect of organic matter may
influence the activity of these organisms.
 Apart from addition of organic manures rice
cultivation methods like direct seeding and
unpuddle transplanting can be practice to avoid
ill effects of puddling to next crop.
 Over-night soaking of seeds referred as seed
priming hastens seed germination and
establishment under relay cropping. Since all
broadcasted seeds do not establish good contact
with soil, the seed germination is low and
therefore 20-25 per cent higher seed rate is
recommended to ensure desired plant population
to achieve higher yield. Site-specific technologies
that help in seed germination in the low soil
moisture regime should be promoted. For
example, in acid soil, application of lime and seed
priming with Mo will be effective while in
calcareous soil, application of pyrite and seed
priming with water/ KNO3 will be effective.
 To utilize residual soil moisture in rice fallow,
pulses need to be sown immediately after harvest
with zero-till drill. Thus, there is a need of specific
farm implements for zero till drill in different
growing situations of rice fallow. In rice fallow
(optimal or sub-optimal soil moisture at rice
harvest), exiting farm machinery like roto-till
drill/ strip-till drill with some modification like
attachment of straw cutting and chopping will
be effective. In relay cropping (optimal or sub-
optimal soil moisture at rice harvest), the existing
practice of broadcasting of seeds before rice
harvest causes low plant establishment. Some
improvement like harvesting of rice and sowing
of pulse crop simultaneously (seed metering and
dropping at proper depth) in the existing paddy
harvester will ensure line sowing, proper seed-
soil contact and desired plant population of pulse
crop.
 In lowland rice with excess soil moisture at rice
harvest, the sub-surface (deep) channel or mole
drainage system at definite interval (3-4 m) will
be useful depending upon soil type and field
slope to drain excess soil moisture for timely
sowing.
 At least 30% rice residue should be retained on
soil surface in rice fallow to maintain soil-plant
water balance during terminal soil moisture
stress.
146 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020
 Since application of fertilizers under relay
cropping is not feasible, seed pelleting and foliar
application of nutrients should be practiced. A
large numbers of front line demonstrations under
All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP)
showed that foliar application of 2 per cent urea/
DAP at flowering and pod formation
significantly improved yields of mungbean,
urdbean and lentil under rainfed conditions by
increasing leaf N content making them
photosynthetically more active (Ali and Kumar
2009). Seed pelleting with micronutrients like Zn
and Mo is also recommended.
 Most of the rice fallow soils examined were low
in N, P, B, Mo and Zn and native rhizobia. As
pulses are very much responsive to micronutrient
application specially Zn, Fe, B and Mo,
supplementary application of micronutrient is
necessary in rice fallow for optimizing the pulse
production.
 Due to anaerobic condition in puddle
transplanted rice, population of aerobic
microorganism like rhizobium reduced
drastically. Thus, for enhancing nodulation in
pulses seed should be treated with appropriate
rhizobium.
 Pelleting of seeds with super phosphate,
rhizobum culture and plant protection chemicals
has been reported to improve establishment,
nodulation and grain yield in multi-location trials
conducted under the AICRP in different parts
the country. Molybdenum application through
seed priming (0.5-4.0 g sodium molybdate kg
seed-1 or litre water-1) increases nodulation up to
90 per cent and grain yield up to 30 per cent and
is as good as soil application in increasing yield
(Das et al. 2012a; Farooq et al. 2012; Johansen et
al. 2007; Khanal et al. 2005; Kumar Rao et al. 2004).
The main advantages of Mo application through
seed priming are ease of application, uniform
application and cost saving. 
 Introducing sprinkler irrigation system on
subsidy basis to provide life saving irrigation
from stored water in farm ponds can be promoted
to minimize losses against terminal moisture
stress.
 Farm implements for weeding at suitable inter-
row distance are needed. Alternatively,
pendimethalin 1.25 kg ha-1 as preemergence will
be used along with cultural or postemergence
herbicides (imazethapyr or quizalofop-ethyl) as
weed management strategy (Kumar and Hazra
2012). Ratooning in rice is another big threat
which also competes with pulses for residual soil
moisture. Thus, postemergence herbicides like
quizalofop-ethyl 0.1 kg ha -1 can be used to
contain the re-growth of rice stubbles (Figure 3)
in relay or zero-till drill pulse crops after rice
harvest (Kumar et al. 2013a).
Fig 3. Rotooning in rice
 Wherever other competitive crops like linseed,
sorghum and maize are in place in rice fallow,
intercropping of these crops with pulses can be
open up an another opportunity to harvest more
crop per unit area and time.
3.4 Plant protection technology
 The major diseases prevalent in chickpea are wilt,
root rot and color rot; lentil- stem phytophthora
blight, rust, wilt and mungbean and urdbean are
MYMV and powdery mildew, whereas major
insects are Helicoverpa and cut worm in chickpea,
aphids in lentil, sucking pest in mungbean. Thus,
need based location specific management (based
on available resources) of these pests may be
adopted.
 To prevent the spread of soil and seed borne
diseases, seed treatment with fungicide /
biocontrol agent is to be promoted (Bavistin 2 g
kg-1 of seed or Trichoderma viride 4 g kg-1 of seed).
 IPM modules which include bird perches, spray
of NPV, chemical and botanical pesticides at ETL
can be effective for Helicoverpa management.
 Wilt resistant genotypes in chickpea and rust
resistant in lentil should be promoted in eastern
(Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam and
 Kumar et al. : Issues and strategies for promotion of pulses in untapped rice-fallow in India: A review
West Bengal) and central (Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh) India.
 Resistant varieties of MYMV and powdery
mildew in mungbean and urdbean should be
promoted in the southern part of country (Andhra
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Odisha).
 Low cost botanical formulations to control
diseases and insect pest will be promoted.
3.5 Knowledge dissemination
 Farmers would require considerable amount of
information particularly in the initial stages of
introduction of rabi crops in the rice fallow. This
can be achieved either by strengthening the
existing technology transfer system or evolving
innovative mechanism for effective transfer of
technology and information.
 There is need of strong interface between
researchers, extension system and farmers for
participatory research in diverse agro-ecological
regions of rice fallow.
 Training, field days etc. can be conducted for fast
dissemination of knowledge.
 Mass and print media may be used under
awareness programme.
4. CONCLUSION
The projected pulse requirement for the year 2030
is 32.0 million tonnes with an anticipated growth rate
of 4.2%. India has to produce not only enough pulses
but also remain competitive to protect the indigenous
pulse production. In view of this, there is need to
develop and adapt progressively more productive and
efficient technology along with favorable development
policies to encourage farmers to bring more area under
pulses. The knowledge and research gaps need to be
identified for pulses production in rice fallow. Research
should focus on evolving short duration drought
escaping varieties of pulses ad promoting short
duration varieties of rice to facilitate early sowing of
pulses in rice fallow for maximizing the use of residual
soil moisture, technologies that help seed germination
in low soil moisture regime under surface or zero-till
drill seeding and soil moisture conservation
technologies. Development and promotion of moisture
conservation technologies to facilitate growing of pulse
crops in hostile environment of rice fallow can meet
the growing demand of pulses in the country.
Simultaneously, the extension system needs to be
147
strengthened to sensitize the farming community
through demonstration and other means of transfer of
technology. Thus, introduction of pulses in rice fallow
with appropriate production technology may usher
in another green revolution in the backward, poverty-
ridden and deprived region of the country.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Authors sincerely acknowledge the National
Agricultural Science Fund (ICAR), New Delhi for
financial support to carry out a project on rice fallow
in different agro-ecological regions of India.
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 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3): 151-159, 2020

Nutrient uptake, zinc use efficiency and yield of pigeon pea as

influenced by various modes of zinc application under rainfed condition
DS YASHONA*, US MISHRA1, SB AHER, P SIROTHIA1 and SP MISHRA1

ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science,
Bhopal (M.P.), INDIA, 1 Mahatma
Gandhi Chitrakoot Gramodaya Vishwa
Vidyalaya, Chitrakoot, Satna (M.P.),
INDIA
*E-mail: dsyashona@rediffmail.com
Received: March 3, 2020
Accepted: November 9, 2020
Handling Editor:
Dr. A. R. Sharma, RLBCAU, Jhansi
ABSTRACT
The response of pigeon pea to various modes of zinc application was studied
through a field experiment consisting combinations of different modes of zinc
application viz., two levels of zinc (2.5 and 5.0 kg Zn/ha), two levels of FYM (0,
and 5.0 t FYM/ha) and two foliar spray of 0.5% ZnSO4 (at flower and pod
initiation stage) for two consecutive years (2013-15). The grain yield, uptake of
nutrients, and zinc use efficiency was studied at the harvest of pigeon pea. The
results revealed that the grain yield and zinc use efficiency varied 7-25% and
0.8-6.6% higher among different modes of zinc applications over no zinc
application. Similarly, the N and K uptake was found 15-50% and 27-34% higher
among various applications of zinc modes as compared to control. The P uptake
was found lower in the treatments having higher dose of zinc application. The
application of 5.0 kg Zn/ha along with 5 t FYM/ha and/or 0.5% foliar spray of
ZnSO4 found significantly superior for higher yield and nutrient uptake in
pigeon pea whereas, the application of 2.5 kg Zn/ha along with 5 t FYM/ha and
0.5% foliar spray of ZnSO4 showed highest zinc use efficiency in pigeon pea.

Key words: Balance sheet, Nutrient uptake, Pigeon pea, Seed yield, Zinc sulphate,
Zinc use efficiency

Pigeon pea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] belongs to
the genus Cajanus, subtribe Cajaninae, tribe Phaseoleae,
and family abaceae (Sharma and Green, 1980). Pigeon
pea is one of the important pulse crop of India, plays a
vital role in daily diet, being widely consumed in the
country. It is the second most important pulse crops of
India after chickpea. It is one of the protein rich legume
crops of semi arid and sub tropics. Zinc plays an
important role in metabolism both in plants as well as
animals by acting as essential component of enzyme,
RNA, electron carrier etc. The proteinases, peptidases,
carbonic anhydrase, dehydrogenase etc. are the
examples of metalloenzymes in which zinc is the
integral part. Besides enzymes, zinc is also associated
with the proteins and plays an important role. The
plants exhibited lower rate of protein synthesis and
protein accumulation under zinc deficiency. Zinc also
plays important role in physiological process of plants
through synthesis of hormones essential for growth
and reproduction. Zinc is an essential component of
RNA polymeras and provides structural integrity to
ribosomes (Taliee and Sayadian, 2000). Zinc plays
important role in determining the yield and quality of
the pulse crop especially pigeonpea and zinc
deficiency leads to reduction of crop yield by 19-31%
(Subba Rao and Ghosh, 1981). As the pulses need zinc
in sufficiently large quantity, the mode of application
zinc determines the profitability (Yashona et al., 2018a)
and sustainability (Aher et al. 2012) of the system.
Keeping in mind the efficiency of applied zinc, the
mode of zinc application proves the major factor.
Considering the importance of zinc to pigeon pea
crop, depleting soil zinc status and limited efficiency
of applied zinc fertilizers, the response of pigeon pea
to different mode of zinc application was studied.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The field experiment was conducted for two
consecutive years (2013-14 and 2014-15) during kharif
season at the Research Farm of Mahatma Gandhi
Chitrakoot Gramoday Vishwavidyalaya (MGCGV),
Chitrakoot, Satna which is situated in East tract of
Madhya Pradesh and located at 25°09’ N and 80°51’
E at an altitude of 205 m amsl. The experimental site is
characterized by semi-arid and sub-tropical climate
type arid climate with extreme cold winter, hot and
dry windy summer. The experiment was conducted
in randomized block design (RBD) with 15 treatments
in three replications. The treatments involved
combination of two zinc levels (5 and 2.5 kg Zn/ha),
two farm yard manure (FYM) levels (0 and 5t/ha) and
foliar ZnSO4 @0.5% application at two stages (flower
152 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020
initiation (FI) and pod initiation (PI) stage). The 15
treatment combinations were: Control; Zn 5.0 kg/ha;
Zn 5.0 kg/ha+FYM @5 t/ha; Zn 5.0 kg/ha+ZnSO4
@0.5% at FI; Zn 5.0 kg/ha+ZnSO4 @0.5% at PI; Zn 5.0
kg/ha+ZnSO4 @0.5% at FI+FYM @5 t/ha; Zn 5.0 kg/
ha+ZnSO4 @0.5% at PI+FYM @5 t/ha; Zn 5.0 kg/ha+
ZnSO4 @0.5% at FI & PI+FYM @5 t/ha; Zn 2.5 kg/ha;
Zn 2.5 kg/ha+FYM @5 t/ha); Zn 2.5 kg/ha+ZnSO4
@0.5% at FI; Zn 2.5 kg/ha+ZnSO4 @0.5% at PI; Zn 2.5
kg/ha+ZnSO4 @0.5% at FI+FYM @5 t/ha; Zn 2.5 kg/
ha+ZnSO4 @0.5% at PI+FYM @5 t/ha; Zn 2.5 kg/
ha+ZnSO4 @0.5% at FI & PI+FYM @5 t/ha.
The experiment was carried out with plots of area
16 m2 (4 m × 4 m). The crop was sown on 21 July 2013
and 23 July 2014. During both the years recommended
dose of (20:40:30) of N, P and K fertilizers were applied
in all the treatments including control just before
sowing using urea, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP),
and murate of potash (MOP), respectively. Zn (through
ZnSO4, 7H2O) was applied as per treatments. Foliar
application of ZnSO4 @0.5% (weight basis 0.5 kg Zn/
ha) at initiation of flowers and pods in the selected
treatments. The required amount of FYM containing
total N (8.6 g/kg), P (4.4 g/kg), K (1.1 g/kg) and Zn
(39.3 mg/kg) was applied 10 days prior to sowing as
per the treatments. The variety of pigeon pea ‘ICPL-
87119’ used for experimental purpose. The crop was
harvested at physiological maturity 210 DAS (15 Feb.
2014 and 20 Feb. 2015) and yield was recorded.
The soil of experimental site was loamy sand in
texture and normal in reaction (pH 7.49 and EC 0.26
dS/m). The soil was low in soil organic carbon (2.4 g/
kg), available N (210 kg/ha), available K (189 kg/ha)
and medium in available P (15 kg/ha). The soil was
having DTPA extractable micronutrients in optimum
range (Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu; 20.5, 12.4, 0.57 and 0.36
mg/kg, respectively).
Plant samples were collected and partitioned to
leaf, stover and seed and were digested in di-acid (10:4
of HNO3: HClO4) mixture and the extract was analyzed
for total P, K and Zn content following
vandomolybdate phosphoric yellow color method, on
flame photometer and atomic absorption
spectrophotometer, respectively. Total nitrogen in
plant parts was determined using Kjeldhal distillation
after digesting the samples in concentrated H2SO4. The
nutrient concentration in different plant parts was
multiplied with their corresponding biomass and
nutrient uptake was calculated. Zinc use efficiency
(ZUE) was calculated by using the following equation:
− found 6-18% higher under the treatments receiving
(%) = × 100
Soil samples were collected at 0-15 cm depth after
harvest of the crop and analyzed for physico-chemical
properties by standard method of analysis. Soil pH
and electrical conductivity was estimated in the 1:2
(soil:water) suspension using glass electrode pH
meter. The organic carbon content was determined by
dichromate oxidation method. Soil available nitrogen
was estimated by alkaline permanganate method. Soil
available phosphorus was determined in soil sodium
bi-carbonate extract by ascorbic acid method. Soil
available potassium was determined on a flame
photometer after extraction in neutral ammonium
acetate solution. The soil available micronutrients viz.,
Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn were determined on atomic
absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) after extracting
the soil with di-methyl tri-amine penta acetic acid
(DTPA) extractant. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was
performed for the pooled data over seasons after testing
error variance homogeneity. Significant differences
between the treatments were compared with the critical
difference (p=0.05) by LSD appropriate for randomized
block design (RBD).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Yield and biomass: Grain yield is the ultimate economic
produce of the crop which is determined by grain
weight, number of grains per unit land area as
governed by the management practices and its native
genetic potential. The grain yield of pigeon pea found
7-25% higher under the treatments receiving different
mode of zinc application and their combination as
compared to the control (no zinc application) (Table
1). The application of 2.5 kg/ha zinc either alone or in
combination with FYM and/or foliar application
registered 7-23% higher grain yield as compared to
control. Similarly, the application of 5 kg/ha zinc
either alone or in combination with FYM and/or foliar
zinc increased grain yield of pigeon pea by 8-25% over
control. The application of 0.5% ZnSO4 as foliar spray
at flower initiation and/or pod development stage in
combination with different soil application (2.5 or 5
kg/ha) with or without FYM @5 t/ha showed 15-25%
higher grain yield over control. Similarly, zinc
fertilization through soil (with or without foliar
application) in combination with FYM @5 t/ha
increased grain yield of pigeon pea by 16-25% as
compared to the control. Among these treatments, the
treatments involving application of soil zinc in
combination with foliar zinc and FYM was found most
beneficial with respect to improvement in grain yield
of pigeon pea. The stover yield of pigeon pea was
different mode of zinc application and their
 Yashona et al. : Nutrient uptake, zinc use efficiency and yield of pigeon pea as influenced by various modes of zinc153

combination as compared to the control (no zinc
application). The application of 2.5 kg/ha zinc either
alone or in combination with FYM and/or foliar
application registered 6-17% higher stover yield as
compared to control. Similarly, the application of 5
kg/ha zinc either alone or in combination with FYM
and/or foliar zinc increased stover yield of pigeon pea
by 7-18% over control. The application of 0.5% ZnSO4
as foliar spray at flower initiation and/or pod
development stage in combination with different soil
application (2.5 or 5 kg/ha) with or without FYM @5
t/ha showed 11-18% higher stover yield over control.
Similarly, zinc fertilization through soil (with or
without foliar application) in combination with FYM
@ 5t/ha increased stover yield of pigeon pea by 12-
18% as compared to the control. Among these
treatments, the treatments involving application of soil
zinc in combination with foliar zinc and FYM was
found most beneficial with respect to improvement in
stover yield of pigeon pea (Table 1).
Zn is required for the biosynthesis of plant growth
regulator (IAA) and for carbohydrate and N
metabolism which leads to high yield and yield
components (Taliee and Sayadian, 2000). Overcoming
limitations to plant nutrient through the application
of appropriate fertilisers increased assimilate
production and photosynthesis efficiency at the seed
filling stage (Ali et al. 2004). The application of organic
manure results in significant response of crops (Aher
et al. 2015; Mandale et al. 2018a; Mandale et al. 2018b;
Aher et al. 2019a) especially in pigeon pea (Yashona et
al. 2018b). The positive response of the pigeon pea to
zinc fertilization either through soil or foliar with and
without FYM has already been reported by different
researchers in diverse soils (Shah et al. 2016;
Purushottam et al. 2018). The positive effects of zinc
application to crop yield might be due to the Zn
fertilizer (as ZnSO4) decreases pH of soil and increases
root absorption of minerals and improved Zn nutrition
of plants improves biosynthesis of the plant growth
regulator IAA, carbohydrate and N metabolism which
lead to high yield and yield components. The enhanced
plant nutrition increases photosynthesis efficiency,
assimilation and production (Ali et al. 2004). Dry
matter accumulation in the plant at progressive stages
is a justified assessment of growth as a cumulative
expression of different growth parameters. Further, it
was observed that productivity of pigeon pea was not
only dependent on accumulation of total amount of
dry matter but its effective partitioning into economic
sink seems to be key to increase the yield. Auxin is
known to maintain the higher rate of photosynthesis
which contributed to higher dry matter which was an
indicator of current photosynthesis. The results of the
present study revealed the higher accumulation of total
biomass under the combined application of the zinc,
foliar ZnSO4 and FYM.
N, P and K uptake: The uptake of major plant nutrient
in pigeon pea is shown in Table 2. The N, P and K
uptake in pigeon pea ranged 96.8-145.4, 18.4-22.0 and
91.4-122.3 kg/ha, respectively among different
treatments studied. The N uptake in pigeon pea found
15-50% higher under the treatments receiving different
mode of zinc application and their combination as
compared to the control (no zinc application). The
application of zinc in combination with FYM @5t/ha

Table 1. Seed and stover yield of pigeon pea under various modes of zinc application (Pooled of two years)
Seed yield Stover yield
Treatments
2013-14 2014-15 Pooled 2013-14 2014-15 Pooled
Control 1.87 1.94 1.91 5.02 5.36 5.19
Zn5.0 2.04 2.08 2.06 5.49 5.55 5.52
Zn5.0+FYM 2.24 2.29 2.26 5.92 5.90 5.91
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI 2.19 2.22 2.20 5.84 5.72 5.78
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @PI 2.16 2.20 2.18 5.85 5.81 5.83
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI+FYM 2.31 2.36 2.33 6.09 6.02 6.05
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @PI+FYM 2.23 2.28 2.25 5.90 5.79 5.85
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI & PI+FYM 2.36 2.39 2.38 6.19 6.09 6.14
Zn2.5 2.01 2.07 2.04 5.46 5.63 5.54
Zn2.5+FYM 2.19 2.25 2.22 5.85 5.97 5.91
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI 2.16 2.21 2.19 5.69 5.83 5.76
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @PI 2.13 2.24 2.19 5.71 5.79 5.75
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI+FYM 2.24 2.32 2.28 5.95 6.09 6.02
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @PI+FYM 2.19 2.24 2.21 5.83 5.75 5.79
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI & PI+FYM 2.31 2.37 2.34 6.12 6.09 6.10
SEm± 0.016 0.036 0.017 0.135 0.123 0.119
CD 5% 0.047 0.106 0.05 0.392 0.355 0.344
FI- Flower initiation; PI- Pod initiation; FYM- Farm yard manure; values in t/ha.
154 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

resulted in 33-50% higher N uptake in pigeon pea higher uptake of phosphorous under the application
against the treatments without application (15-32%) of organic manures.
over control. The combined mode of zinc application Zinc uptake: The Zn uptake by pigeon pea crop ranged
i.e. soil, foliar and FYM showed higher N uptake in from 125.2 to 385.6 g/ha among different treatments
pigeon pea. Similarly, the K uptake in pigeon pea (Table 3). The treatment receiving 5 and 2.5 kg/ha zinc
showed 8-34% higher uptake than control. The with 5t FYM along with foliar application in
combined application zinc with FYM resulted in 27- combination significantly affected the Zn uptake of
34% higher K uptake as compared to without FYM pigeon pea crop as compared to the treatments
application (8-21%) over control. The P uptake in receiving 5 and 2.5 kg/ha without 5 t FYM and foliar
pigeon pea showed quite different trend that of N and application. The total zinc uptake by pigeon pea at the
K uptake. The P uptake in the treatments involving the harvest found 19-208% higher under the treatments
application of FYM showed 8-20% higher uptake as receiving different mode of zinc application and their
compared to control but upon increase in the combination as compared to the control (no zinc
magnitude of zinc without application of FYM, the P application). The application of 2.5 kg/ha either alone
uptake showed reduction. The application of sole soil or in combination with FYM and/or foliar application
zinc showed 1-13% reduction in total P uptake by registered 19-186% higher Zn uptake as compared to
pigeon pea. This might be due to antagonistic effect. control. Similarly, the application of 5 kg/ha either
The increase in zinc ions in soil solution reduces the P alone or in combination with FYM and/or foliar zinc
availability to crop. The nutrient uptake depends upon increased 29-208% Zn uptake by pigeon pea over
the soil nutrient availability. The imbalanced fertilizer control. The application of 0.5% ZnSO4 as foliar spray
application sometimes reduces the nutrient at flower initiation and/or pod development stage in
availability (Khandagle et al. 2019a) especially their combination with different soil application (2.5 or 5
soil fractions (Khandagle et al. 2019b). Similarly, the kg/ha zinc) with or without FYM @ 5 t/ha showed
application of farm yard manure also enhances the 115-208% higher Zn uptake over control. Similarly,
soil nutrient availability through modification in soil zinc fertilization through soil (with or without foliar
physical (Aher et al. 2019b) and microbial (Aher et al. application) in combination with FYM @ 5 t/ha
2018a) properties. Hence a significant higher uptake increased Zn uptake in pigeon pea by 52-208% as
of nutrients availability under the treatments receiving compared to the control. Among these treatments, the
the combined application of FYM and zinc is observed. treatments involving application of soil zinc in
The higher uptake of nitrogen (Mandale et al. 2019a) combination with foliar zinc and FYM found most
and potassium (Mandale et al. 2018c) has already been beneficial with respect to improvement in Zn uptake
reported under organic manure application. In present in pigeon pea. The relationship between the bio-
study, the uptake of P found lower which is in contrast accumulation of zinc and the zinc concentration in
to the findings of Mandale et al. (2019b) who reported the nutrient solution has been noted earlier by Cui
Table 2. N, P and K uptake in pigeon pea under different mode of zinc application. (Mean of two years)
Seed uptake Stover uptake Total uptake
Treatment
N P K N P K N P K
Control 56.9 7.8 13.8 39.9 7.0 77.7 96.8 18.4 91.4
Zn5.0 67.0 9.8 16.1 45.6 8.3 84.2 112.6 15.9 100.3
Zn5.0+FYM 75.1 11.2 18.7 58.4 10.4 100.8 133.5 21.5 119.5
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI 72.4 9.2 16.5 48.0 8.2 85.8 120.4 17.4 102.3
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @PI 71.1 10.1 16.8 56.2 8.0 86.1 127.3 18.1 102.9
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI+FYM 80.5 12.0 20.8 62.1 9.1 98.2 142.6 21.1 119.0
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @PI+FYM 77.6 12.0 18.2 62.1 9.2 98.9 139.8 21.2 117.1
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI & PI+FYM 83.4 11.1 19.7 62.1 8.7 102.6 145.4 19.8 122.3
Zn2.5 65.9 8.7 14.8 45.7 8.1 83.7 111.6 16.8 98.5
Zn2.5+FYM 72.9 11.3 17.8 55.3 10.7 99.6 128.2 22.0 117.4
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI 71.0 9.5 15.9 48.4 8.9 93.7 119.4 18.4 109.5
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @PI 70.9 10.3 16.4 48.1 9.2 93.8 119.0 19.4 110.2
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI+FYM 77.0 11.8 18.7 62.1 9.5 97.1 139.1 21.3 115.8
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @PI+FYM 74.5 11.7 18.6 61.1 10.0 97.5 135.6 21.6 116.1
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI & PI+FYM 81.1 11.3 20.0 62.7 9.2 99.6 143.8 20.4 119.6
SEm± 0.8 0.1 0.2 1.2 0.3 2.0 1.4 0.4 2.1
CD 5% 2.3 0.4 0.6 3.4 0.8 5.9 4.0 1.0 6.1
FI- Flower initiation; PI- Pod initiation; FYM- Farm yard manure; Values in kg/ha
 Yashona et al. : Nutrient uptake, zinc use efficiency and yield of pigeon pea as influenced by various modes of zinc155

and Wang (2005); Sharma and Agrawal (2006). The
zinc concentration in plant tissues increases with
increase in time and in the intensity of treatment. The
higher accumulation of the zinc in the plant tissues
viz. leaf, stalk and grain resulted in the higher total
zinc uptake. This might be due to compound effect of
grain and stalk yield of their content (Kumawat et al.
2015; Yashona et al. 2018b; Yashona et al. 2018c).
Soil available Zn and balance sheet: The pooled data
of two years revealed that the DTPA extractable zinc
in soil was found ranged between 1.09 to 1.98 mg/kg
among different treatments. The treatments involving
application of Zn along with FYM significantly
improved the DTPA extractable Zn content in soil
(Table 3). Jagtap et al. (2007) also observed increased
DTPA-micronutrients (Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn) with the
application of organic manures either alone or in
combination with chemical fertilizers. Among the zinc
levels with and without FYM significant difference
was observed for available soil Zn after harvest of crop.
The actual gains of Zn were found negative in all the
treatments studied except control. The maximum zinc
balance was observed in the treatment involving the
application of zinc 5 kg/ha+5t FYM/ha+0.5% ZnSO4
at flowering initiation and pod development stage. The
treatments involving the combined application of soil
zinc @ 5/2.5 kg/ha, FYM @5 t/ha and/or 0.5% ZnSO4
as foliar application showed higher soil zinc balance
as compared to the other treatments. It has been
observed that the application of soil zinc along with
FYM improved the zinc uptake by pigeon pea crop,
soil available zinc as well as balance zinc in soil (Table
3). Application of organic manures with inorganic
fertilizers improve the soil structure, aeration,
buffering capacity, water holding capacity, influences
solubility of the mineral and provide energy for growth
and development of microorganisms
(Bandyopadhyay and Puste, 2002). Kumawat et al.
(2013) also found maximum negative value of actual
gain of S and Zn with the application of 100%
RDF+50% NVC+5 kg Zn/ha. The pooled data on zinc
balance showed negative balance of zinc in control
treatment. The negative balance value of zinc in control
treatment might be due to poor and no nutrient (native
nutrient was available only in the soil) was added
into the soil whereas a considerable amount of nutrient
was removed by the crop through total dry matter
weight and nutrient concentration variation in
respective treatments (Jahan et al. 2015). The higher
soil nutrient availability through external fertilization
and release from added organic manures leads to more
concentration of nutrients in plant tissue which
reflects in enhanced uptake (Aher et al. 2018b).
Zinc use efficiency: The zinc use efficiency (ZUE) of
pigeon pea found 0.8-6.6% under the treatments
receiving different mode of zinc application and their
combination as computed with respect to the control
(no zinc application) (Fig. 1). The ZUE under the
application of 2.5 kg/ha zinc either alone or in
combination with FYM and/or foliar application
registered 1.3-7 times higher than sole application of 5
kg/ha zinc. The ZUE under combined application of
5 kg/ha in combination with FYM and/or foliar zinc
increased ZUE of pigeon pea by 83-425% over sole
application of 5 kg/ha (Fig. 1). Similarly, the ZUE
under the application of 0.5% ZnSO4 as foliar spray at

Table 3. Balance sheet of soil Zn as influenced by various modes of Zn application. (Mean of two years)
Treatments Soil Initial Zn Zn Added Zn Uptake Soil Zn at Harvest Actual Gain Zn Balance
(a) (b) (c) (d) (a-d) [(a+b)-c+d)]
Control 1.14 0.00 0.13 1.09 0.05 -0.08
Zn5.0 1.14 5.00 0.16 1.66 -0.52 4.32
Zn5.0+FYM 1.14 5.12 0.20 1.89 -0.75 4.17
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI 1.14 5.50 0.31 1.64 -0.50 4.69
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @PI 1.14 5.50 0.27 1.73 -0.59 4.64
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI+FYM 1.14 5.62 0.34 1.90 -0.76 4.52
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @PI+FYM 1.14 5.62 0.33 1.95 -0.81 4.48
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI & PI+FYM 1.14 6.12 0.39 1.98 -0.83 4.90
Zn2.5 1.14 2.50 0.15 1.46 -0.32 2.04
Zn2.5+FYM 1.14 2.62 0.19 1.82 -0.68 1.75
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI 1.14 3.00 0.30 1.56 -0.42 2.28
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @PI 1.14 3.00 0.27 1.62 -0.47 2.26
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI+FYM 1.14 3.12 0.32 1.83 -0.68 2.12
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @PI+FYM 1.14 3.12 0.31 1.82 -0.68 2.13
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI & PI+FYM 1.14 3.62 0.36 1.87 -0.73 2.53
SEm± - - 0.005 0.06 - -
CD 5% - - 0.014 0.17 - -
FI- Flower initiation; PI- Pod initiation; FYM- Farm yard manure; values in kg/ha.
156 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

decrease in nutrient use efficiency at higher nutrient

Figure 1. Zinc use efficiency under various modes of
zinc application (FI- Flower initiation; PI- Pod initiation;
FYM- Farm yard manure; Error bars indicates standard
error of mean (SEm±); LSD 0.05 = 0.37)
flower initiation and/or pod development stage in
combination with different soil application (2.5 or 5
kg/ha zinc) with or without FYM @5 t/ha found
highest (2-7 times) over sole application of 5 kg/ha.
The application of FYM and inorganic zinc through
soil (with or without foliar application) showed 1.8-7
times higher ZUE as compared to the sole application
of 5 kg/ha. Among these treatments, the treatments
involving application of soil zinc in combination with
foliar zinc and FYM found most beneficial with respect
to improvement in ZUE of pigeon pea. The Zn use
efficiency decreased with increasing soil Zn levels in
a quadratic fashion. The decrease in nutrient use
efficiency with increasing soil nutrient levels is widely
reported in the literature (Fageria et al. 2011). The
levels may be related to saturation of the plant’s
capacity for nutrient uptake (Fageria et al. 2011). Cover
crops that have high Zn use efficiency might produce
more yield when grown on Zn deficient soils. Inter
specific variation in nutrient use efficiency among
tropical crops has been reported by Baligar et al. (2008).
Soil organic carbon and macronutrients: The soil
organic carbon content in treatments with 5t FYM were
found significantly higher as compared to the
treatments without application of the FYM (Table 4).
The highest soil available N was observed under the
treatment receiving 5 kg/ha with 5t FYM and the
lowest was recorded for the treatment 5 kg/ha in
combination with foliar application at flower
initiation stage. The treatments followed the similar
trend that of organic carbon in soil, showing higher
available N under the combined application of
inorganic Zn and FYM. The soil available phosphorus
(P) was observed significantly higher under the
treatments receiving application of FYM @5 t/ha over
the treatments without application of FYM (Table 4).
Similarly, the treatments involving application of FYM
significantly improved the soil available potassium
over the treatments without application of FYM. The
pooled data of two years revealed that the treatments
involving application of Zn along with FYM
significantly improved the DTPA extractable Zn
content in soil. Application of FYM resulted in an
increase OC of soil over the treatments without
application of FYM and control. The observed increase
in SOC might be due to the continuous buildup of
carbon in soil due to external carbon inputs such as

Table 4. Effect of sole and combined mode of zinc application on soil properties at pigeonpea harvest. (pooled of 2 years)
Treatment pH EC OC N P K
Control 7.51 0.32 2.4 200.1 13.9 197.6
Zn5.0 7.53 0.31 2.4 207.1 9.50 199.9
Zn5.0+FYM 7.47 0.28 3.7 223.0 14.6 227.7
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI 7.54 0.32 2.5 199.1 10.5 198.0
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @PI 7.52 0.32 2.3 206.3 10.7 195.6
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI+FYM 7.46 0.27 3.8 218.6 15.7 217.4
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @PI+FYM 7.47 0.27 3.5 223.4 14.2 218.5
Zn5.0+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI & PI+FYM 7.49 0.28 3.6 220.9 15.6 215.7
Zn2.5 7.53 0.32 2.5 205.1 10.7 195.9
Zn2.5+FYM 7.48 0.28 3.5 221.8 15.7 222.2
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI 7.53 0.30 2.6 202.4 11.8 196.2
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @PI 7.54 0.29 2.7 203.5 11.9 195.9
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI+FYM 7.46 0.27 3.3 220.9 16.0 228.8
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @PI+FYM 7.45 0.27 3.5 219.5 15.1 235.5
Zn2.5+0.5% ZnSO4 @FI & PI+FYM 7.52 0.29 3.5 223.0 15.7 223.3
SEm± 0.03 0.02 0.12 3.58 0.54 4.31
CD 5% 0.09 0.06 0.34 10.4 1.56 12.5
FI- Flower initiation; PI- Pod initiation; FYM- Farm yard manure; EC-Electrical conductivity (dS/m); OC- Soil organic carbon (g/kg);
N, P and K- soil available nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, respectively (kg/ha).
 Yashona et al. : Nutrient uptake, zinc use efficiency and yield of pigeon pea as influenced by various modes of zinc157
Table 5. Correlation between DTPA-extractable Zn, Zinc uptake, grain yield, soil organic carbon and soil available
macronutrients.
Parameter Grain Yield OC
OC 0.756**
N 0.705** 0.920**
P 0.573* 0.876**
K 0.593* 0.883**
Zn 0.895** 0.772**
Zn uptake 0.847** 0.499
OC- soil organic carbon; N, P and K- soil available nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, respectively; Zn- DTPA- extractable zinc;
*Correlation is significant at P=0.05 level (2 tailed); **Correlation is significant at P=0.01 level (2 tailed); Critical value of P at 1% and
5% level of significance are 0.514 and 0.641, respectively (n=15).
FYM. Besides the regular applications of different
organic manures, the root biomass and left over
stubbles have also contributed to the increment in soil
carbon. Lakaria et al. (2012) also observed significant
increment in SOC with the application of FYM. The
higher organic carbon under the application of
external organic manures has been recently
documented (Yashona et al. 2018a; Aher et al. 2019b).
Similarly, these treatments registered significant
increment in soil available macro and micronutrients.
This was probably due to the mineralization of added
FYM which released the nutrients in soil solution.
Also, the significant increase in soil available macro
and micro nutrients content of soil was due to the
increased mineralization of organic manure as well
as SOC by active microorganisms. The increased
availability of micronutrient cations with the
application of organics might be due to release of
micronutrients in readily available forms from soil.
Also, the cations form relatively stable chelates with
organic ligands, which decrease susceptibility to
adsorption, fixation and/or precipitation (Bharadwaj
and Omanwar, 1994).
Correlation of zinc with yield, uptake and soil
parameters: The relation of soil Zn with yield, uptake
and soil parameters was examined by simple
correlation analysis (Table 5). The DTPA-extractable
Zn was found in significant positive correlation with
grain yield (r=0.895**), soil organic carbon (r=0.772**),
soil available N (r=0.816**), soil available K (r=0.679**)
and total Zn uptake (r=0.671**) whereas non
significant positive correlation was observed with soil
available P (r=0.478). The grain yield of pigeon pea
crop was also significantly positively correlated with
the soil organic carbon (r=0.756**), soil available N
(r=0.705**), soil available P (r=0.573*) and soil
available K (r=0.593*). The soil available
macronutrients was also found significantly
positively correlated with each other viz. N and P
(r=0.810**); N and K (r=0.908**); and P and K
(r=0.833**). It is interesting to note that the Zn uptake
N P K Zn
0.810**
0.908** 0.833**
0.816** 0.478 0.679**
0.413 0.405 0.371 0.671**
was not significantly correlated with the soil organic
carbon (r=0.499), available macronutrients viz. N
(r=0.413), P (r=0.405) and K (r=0.371) which was only
correlated significantly with DTPA-extractable Zn and
grain yield (Table 5). The total Zn uptake by crop and
its content in grain increased significantly with the
increasing levels of Zn as well as application of organic
manures. The Zn content was also found correlated
significantly with the yield and total uptake (Yadav et
al. 2013).
Based on results of present study, higher
nutrients uptake, zinc use efficiency and seed yield of
pigeonpea was obtained with application of zinc 5/
2.5 kg/ha+FYM @5 t/ha with foliar application of
ZnSO4 @0.5% at flowering initiation and pod initiation
stages in loamy sand textured soil of Chitrakoot,
Madhya Pradesh during kharif under rainfed
condition.
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 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3): 160-163, 2020
160 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

Effect of foliar nutrition on yield and economics of mungbean

[Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek]
KIRTI MANJHI, PHOOLBAI MASRAM, *HS KUSHWAHA1 and DIPALI SINGH

ABSTRACT
Department of Natural Resource A field experiment was carried out during kharif season of 2016 and 2017 at
Management, Faculty of Agriculture M.G.C.G.V., Chitrakoot to evaluate the effect of foliar nutrition on productivity
Mahatma Gandhi Chitrakoot of mungbean. Treatment consisted T1 : Control (Water spray), T2 : Foliar spray
Gramodaya Vishwavidyalaya, of Urea 2% at flower initiation, T3 : Foliar spray of TNAU Pulse Wonder @ 5 kg/
Chitrakoot, Satna (M.P) 485 334 ha at flower initiation, T4 : Foliar spray of Salicylic Acid 75 ppm at flower
initiation and 7 Days after first spray, T5 : Foliar spray of NPK (18:18:18) 2%
*E-mail: kushwaha_hs@rediffmail.com spray at flower initiation, T6 : Foliar spray of Urea 2% + Salicylic Acid 75 ppm
at flower initiation, T7 : Foliar spray of Boron 0.25 ppm at flower initiation and
T8 : Foliar spray of Nitrobenzene 500 ppm at flower initiation. Result showed
Received: May 5, 2020
that yield attributes viz. pods/plant and pod length was observed statistically
Accepted: November 9, 2020
superior under foliar spray of Salicylic Acid 75 ppm at flower initiation and 7
Days after first spray while, grains/pod and seed weight/plant was obtained
Handling Editor: numerically higher under of Nitrobenzene @ 500 ppm at flower initiation.
Dr. A.R.Sharma, RLBCAU, Jhansi Seed yield (545 kg/ha) and net returns (Rs 30578/ha) was recorded significantly
superior under foliar spray of urea 2% + salicylic acid 75 ppm at flower initiation
followed by Boron @ 0.25 ppm at flower initiation (523kg/ha; Rs 29905/ha) and
urea 2% spray at flower initiation ( 520kg/ha; Rs 29937/ha) which gave by a
margin of 124 kg (29.45%), 102 kg (24.22%) 99 kg (23.51%) higher seed yield and
Rs 10093 (49.27%), Rs 9420 (45.98%) and Rs. 8752 (42.72%) greater net returns
over control, respectively. Significant higher benefit: cost ratio was noted in
urea 2% spray at flower initiation (2.59) followed by of urea 2% + salicylic acid
75 ppm at flower initiation (2.58).

Key words : Foliar nutrition, Mungbean, Yield attributes

Mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] is an
important grain legume crop in arid and semi-arid
regions, cultivated for edible green pods and dry seeds
and considered as a good source of protein for both
humans and animals. It is a short duration crop grown
during rainy and spring season. Being a leguminous
in nature it has the ability to fix nitrogen from the
atmosphere by the roots having nodules through
microbial symbiosis. It is one of the important pulse
crop cultivated in India having about 70% of the world
area and 45% of production. In Madhya Pradesh
mungbean crop was grown on 295 thousand hectare
area which produce 126.3 thousand tonnes production
with a productivity of 428 kg/ha (Anonymous, 2018-
19). The low productivity of mungbean is due to biotic
and abiotic stresses. Among them nutrient play a vital
role in increasing the production of pulses. Soil
application of nutrients often results in lower efficiency
of concerned nutrient. The soil applied nutrients
undergo several changes and losses which occur
through leaching and volatilization. Thus foliar
application of nutrients is imperative. Foliar
application is credited, with advantage of quick and
efficient utilization of nutrients, elimination of losses
through leaching, fixation and regulating the uptake
of nutrients by plant (Manonmani and Srimathi.,
2009). Since foliar nutrient usually penetrate the leaf
cuticle or stomata and enters the cell facilitating easy
and rapid utilization of nutrients. Foliar application
of N at particular stage may solve the growth, nodule
senescence and low seed yield of pulses without
involving root absorption at critical stage (Latha and
Nadanasanady, 2003). Nutrient and growth
regulators as foliar application at pre-flowering and
flowering stage was seen on reduction in flower drop
percentage in green gram (Ganapathy et al., 2008).
Foliar spray technique helps the nutrients to reach the
site of food synthase directly, leading no wastage and
quickly supply of food and thereby reduce the
requirement of fertilizer. Foliar nutrition can be
hastening growth of a crop suddenly. It is also known
that active nodulation of pulse crop stop after 45 to 50
days after sowing and at the time positive effect of
supplying legume plants with supplementary
nitrogen was found and increasing seed yield by
quickly supply of nitrogen. Patla et al., (2005) and
 Manjhi et al. : Effect of foliar nutrition on yield and economics of mungbean
Zeiden, (2003) reported that foliar application of urea
at 50 % flowering increased the yield and seed protein
in legumes, leaf senescence starts earlier before
completion of maturity which break the source to sink
relation, thereby reduce the yield. Nitrogen spray has
been found to delay leaf senesce and improved yield.
TNAU Pulse wonder increased drought tolerance and
reduce flower drop in pulses. Foliar application of
salicylic acid during flowering and branching
increased the flowers, pods, seeds/pod and seed yield
in green gram. Boron spray improved nutrient uptake
from soil, translocation of sugar involved in
reproduction of plants and germination of pollen
grains. However, the role of NPK is well known in
pulses. Keeping these points in view, the present study
was undertaken to find out the appropriate foliar
nutrient for higher productivity of mungbean.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A field experiment was conducted at Agriculture
Farm of the Mahatma Gandhi Chitrakoot Gramodaya
Vishwavidyalaya, Chitrakoot District Satna (M.P.)
during kharif season of 2016 and 2017. The farm is
situated under Kymore Plateau of Northern Madhya
Pradesh ( 250 102 N latitude, 800 322 E longitude and
190-210 meter above mean sea level). The soil of
experimental field was sandy loam with pH 7.79 and
7.75, low in organic carbon (0.49% and 0.24%) and
available nitrogen (223.50 and 108.5 kg/ha) and
available phosphorus of 54.51 and 8.60 kg/ha,
medium in available potash (152.49 and 185 kg/ha)
and available boron (0.12 and 0.25 mg/kg). Treatment
consisted T1 : Control (Water spray), T2 : Foliar spray
of Urea 2% at flower initiation, T3 : Foliar spray of
TNAU pulse Wonder @ 5 kg/ha at Foliar initiation, T4
: Foliar spray of Salicylic Acid 75 ppm at Foliar
initiation and 7 Days after first spray, T5 : Foliar spray
of NPK (18:18:18) 2% spray at Foliar initiation, T6 :
Foliar spray of Urea 2% + Salicylic Acid 75 ppm Foliar
initiation, T7 : Foliar spray of Boron 0.25 ppm at Foliar
initiation and T8 : Foliar spray of Nitrobenzene @ 500
ppm at Foliar initiation. Thus eight treatments were
tried in a three replicated randomized black design.
Mungbean (cv. PDM-139) was sown July 21, 2016 and
July 19, 2017 in furrows at a row spacing of 30cm apart
using seed rate 20 kg/ha.
Seed was treated with thiram @ 2.5 g/kg seed
before seed inoculation for protecting fungal infection.
Thereafter, it was inoculated with Rhizobium culture
@ 20 g/kg seed followed by phosphorus solubilizing
bacteria (PSB) @ 40 g/kg seed. The crop was fertilized
@ 20 kg N+ 40 kg P2O5 + 20 kg K2O/ha uniformly as
basal dressing through DAP, Urea and Muriate of
potash. The foliar spray of different nutrients were done
at initiation of flowering in all treatments. In treatment
161
T4 salicylic acid 75 ppm was further sprayed 7 days
after first spray. Six hundred litre/ha water was used
for preparation of solution in foliar spray. Weeds of
crop field was controlled by using Pendimethalin @ 1
kg a.i./ha as pre-emergence with one hand weeding
at 20 DAS. The crop was protected from insect pest by
using Dimethoate @ 2ml/litre of water (600 litre of
water/ha). The crop was grown as per recommended
package and practices and harvested on 28 th
September 2016 and 17 th September 2017. The
important growth parameters, yield attributes and
yield were recorded at appropriate time as per standard
procedure. The economics was calculated on the basis
of prevailing market rates of the area. The experimental
data was statistically analysed by Gomez and Gomez
(1984). The treatment differences were tested by using
“F” test and critical differences at 5% probability.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Effect of yield attributes
Yield attributes viz. pods/plant (15.80) was
recorded significantly higher under salicylic acid 75
ppm at FI (T4) and statistically at par with all the foliar
applied treatment. Pod length was observed
conspicuously more under salicylic acid 75 ppm at FI
(T4) and nitrobenzene 500 ppm at FI (T8). However,
grains/pod (10.01) and seed weight /plant (7.31) was
noted numerically more under nitrobenzene @500 ppm
at FI (T8). While, 1000-seed weight was recorded
marginally higher (33.95g) under TNAU pulse wonder
@ 5kg/ha (T3) followed by nitrobenzene @ 500 ppm at
FI (T8). The better yield attributes under foliar treatment
was due to improve morphological characters of
mungbean viz. plant height, leaves/plant and dry
matter accumulation/plant. This might be because of
role of NPK and growth hormone which improves
chlorophyll content, soluble protein and nitrate
reductase activity. Singh et al. (1980) found that foliar
application of salicylic acid at branching and flower
bud initiation stages increased the number of flower/
plant, pods /plant, seeds/pods and seed yield kg/ha
in green gram. The findings are in agreement with
result of Anuradha et al. (2011) and Pandey et al. (2013),
Kumar et al. (2013), Ali et al. (2013) and Shivkumar
and Nagaraj (2018).
Effect of yields
All foliar nutrition treatment produced
significantly higher seed yield than control except T3
TNAU pulse wonder @ 5kg/ha at FI (T3). Foliar spray
of urea 2% + Salicylic acid @ 75 ppm at flower initiation
gave significantly superior seed yield (545 kg/ha)
followed by foliar spray of boron 0.25 ppm at FI (523
kg/ha), urea 2% at FI (520 kg/ha), NPK (18:18:18) 2%
162 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

Table 1. Effect of foliar nutrition on yield attributes on mungbean (Pooled data of 2 years).
Treatments Yield attributes
Pods/plant Pod length Grains/pod Seed weight/plant 1000-seed weight
(cm) (g) (g)
T1 Control (water spray) 13.03 5.81 9.54 6.82 33.63
T2 Urea 2% spray at FI 14.57 6.01 9.49 7.29 33.73
T3 TNAU pulse Wonder 5 kg/ha at FI 14.00 5.92 9.48 7.08 33.95
T4 Salicylic Acid 75 ppm at FI and 7 Days Ist spray 15.80 6.02 9.50 6.85 33.80
T5 NPK (18:18:18) 2% spray at FI 14.53 5.97 9.57 7.25 33.50
T6 Urea 2%+Salicylic Acid 75 ppm FI 13.93 5.91 9.63 7.07 33.70
T7 Boron 0.25 ppm at FI 14.25 5.94 9.65 7.01 33.75
T8 Nitrobenzene 500ppm at FI 13.87 5.89 10.01 7.31 33.75
SEm ± 0.69 0.42 0.36 0.52 0.86
CD (P=0.05) 1.98 NS NS NS NS

Table 2. Effect of foliar spray on yield and harvest index of mungbean.

Treatments Seed yield (kg/ha) Stover yield (kg/ha) Harvest index (%)
2016 2017 Pooled 2016 2017 Pooled 2016 2017 Pooled
T1 Control (water spray) 425 418 421 1929 2490 2209 17.67 14.36 16.01
T2 Urea 2% spray at flower initiation 506 535 520 3262 2864 3063 18.00 15.74 16.87
T3 TNAU pulse Wonder 5 kg/ha at FI 492 456 474 2540 2807 2673 15.67 14.90 15.29
T4 Salicylic Acid 75 ppm at FI and 7 Days Ist spray 513 516 514 2246 2298 2272 18.33 16.05 17.19
T5 NPK (18:18:18) 2% spray at FI 527 511 519 2262 2493 2377 18.67 17.01 17.84
T6 Urea 2%+Salicylic Acid 75 ppm FI 550 540 545 2619 3134 2876 17.67 14.68 16.18
T7 Boron 0.25 ppm at FI 511 535 523 2500 2896 2698 18.00 17.05 17.53
T8 Nitrobenzene 500 ppm at FI 500 483 491 2104 2738 2421 18.67 15.06 16.87
SEm ± 18.77 26.13 21.88 147.00 153.56 171.31 0.46 0.51 0.54
CD (P=0.05) 56.94 79.26 62.71 445.87 465.77 490.89 1.41 1.54 1.55

Table 3. Effect of foliar spray on economics of mungbean.

Treatments Economics
Cost of cultivation (Rs/ha) Net returns (Rs/ha) Gross returns (Rs/ha) B:C ratio
2016 2017 Mean 2016 2017 Pooled 2016 2017 Pooled 2016 2017 Pooled
T1 Control (water spray) 18927 18926 18926 27376 13593 20485 46334 30080 38207 2.45 1.84 2.15
T2 Urea 2% spray at flower initiation 19011 19010 19010 35684 22791 29237 54695 37849 46272 2.87 2.30 2.59
T3 TNAU pulse Wonder 5 kg/ha at FI 19944 19943 19943 34283 16430 25356 54227 33759 43993 2.71 1.94 2.33
T4 Salicylic Acid 75 ppm at F.I. and 7 Days Ist spray 20198 20197 20197 35568 19686 27627 55766 35364 45565 2.75 2.18 2.46
T5 NPK (18:18:18) 2% spray at FI 21062 21061 21061 36133 17208 26670 57195 36440 46817 2.71 1.93 2.32
T6 Urea 2%+Salicylic Acid 75 ppm FI 20282 20281 20281 39996 21161 30578 60278 38749 49513 2.97 2.20 2.58
T7 Boron 0.25 ppm at FI 18928 18927 18927 40207 19603 29905 56135 34910 45522 2.96 2.20 2.58
T8 Nitrobenzene 500 ppm at FI 18973 18972 18972 35253 18123 26688 54226 34476 44351 2.85 2.10 2.48
SEm ± - - - 1956.6 1697.5 1820.8 1568.5 1463.3 1517.5 0.10 0.10 0.10
CD (P=0.05) - - - 5934.9 5148.9 5217.4 4757.5 4438.6 4348.3 0.30 0.29 0.28

at FI (519 kg/ha) and salicylic acid @ 75ppm (514 kg/
ha) which were statistically at par. The stover yield
was recorded significantly higher under foliar spray
of urea 2% at flower initiation (3063 kg/ha) followed
by urea 2% + Salicylic acid @ 75 ppm at FI (2876 kg/
ha)­, boron 0.25 ppm at FI (2698 kg/ha) and TNAU
pulse wonder @ 5kg/ha at FI (2673 kg/ha) which
exhibited statistically at par. The highest harvest index
was calculated (17.84%) in T5 foliar spray of NPK
(18:18:18) and T7: boron 0.25 ppm at FI (17.53%) and
T4 Salicylic acid @ 75 ppm at FI (17.19%). The higher
yield could be ascribed to better growth and yield
attributes of green gram. In these treatments, additional
nutrient was supplied through foliar spraying in
addition to basal application of nutrients. Urea and
salicylic acid provide nitrogen and salicylic acid
which works as growth hormone regulate
physiological process in transport membrane
permeability and photosynthesis via increasing
assimilation rate that revealed increasing in
chlorophyll content and hill reaction activity in the
leaf. Foliar application of salicylic acid during
branching and flower bud initiation stage increased
seed yield in greengram (Singh et al., 1980). These
results are agreement to those of Jeya Kumar (2008),
Ali and Mahmoud (2013) and Sujatha (2001). Foliar
spray of NPK increased chlorophyll content and
formation of more photosynthesis. Verma et al. (2011)
and Kothale et al. (2003) reported higher straw yield
with foliar spray of nutrients.
 Manjhi et al. : Effect of foliar nutrition on yield and economics of mungbean
Effect on Economics
Gross and net returns were significantly
improved due to foliar nutrition. Foliar spray of urea
2% + salicylic acid 75 ppm at flower initiation achieved
the maximum gross returns (Rs 49513/ha) and net
returns (Rs 30578/ha) closely followed by gross
returns under foliar spray of urea 2% at flower
initiation (Rs 46272/ha) and net returns (Rs 29905/
ha) under foliar spray of boron 0.25 ppm at flower
initiation. All foliar nutrition treatment showed
significantly at par net returns. Gross return was in
the trend of seed and stover yield of mung bean. This
net returns was due to trend of gross returns and cost
of cultivation incurred in mungbean cultivation. The
result of gross returns and net returns was supported
by Shukla et al. (2013), Ali et al. (2013), Kuttimani and
Velayutham (2011), Kumar et al. (2013). Singh et al.
(2013) and Devi et al. (2015) reported that foliar
application of thiourea @ 500 ppm in green gram gave
highest net returns. The variation in cultivation cost
was due to variable input cum operation involved in
different treatment. The maximum benefit: Cost ratio
was obtained under T6 urea 2% at FI (2.59) closely
followed by T6: urea 2% + salicylic acid 75 ppm (2.58)
and T7: Boron spray 0.25ppm (2.58). This could be
ascribed due to high value of gross returns as
compared to cost of cultivation. Baldev and Punia
(2018) and Singh et al. (2015) supported the result.
Thus it can be concluded that application of urea
2% + salicylic acid 75ppm at flower initiation (T6) was
found the best treatment for higher grain yield and net
returns for rainfed conditions of Kymore Plateau of
Madhya Pradesh.
REFERENCES
Anonymous (2018-19). Area, production and productivity
of cereal crops in Madhya Pradesh. Commissioner
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Ali, E.A. and Mahmound, Adel M. (2013). Effect of foliar
spray by different Salicylic acid and zinc concentrations
on seed yield and yield component of mungbean in
sandy soil 5(1): 33-40.
Anuradha, C.H., Thatikunta, Ramesh., Swaraj Lakshmi,G.
and Prasadini, Prabhu (2011). Studies on effect of
organic agriculture inputs on soil Nutrients
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Jeya Kumar, P., Velu, G., Rajendran, C., Amutna, R., Savery,
M.A.J.R. and Chidambaram, S. (2008). Varied responses
of black gram (Vigna mungo) to certain foliar applied
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Kothule, V. G., Bhalerao, R. K. and Rathod, T. H. 2003.
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Kumar, Sunil., Patel, S.K., Vinod. and Ghosh, Gautam.
(2013). Growth of green gram (Vigna radiata L.) as
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phosphorus. Trends in Bioscience, 6(4): 475-76.
Kuttimani, R. and Velayutham, A. (2011). Foliar application
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Pandey, Nalini and Gupta, Bhawna (2013). The impact of
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Shukla. A. K., Shrama. R. D., Singh. R. S., Pandey. G. and
Marko. G. S. (2013). Effect of foliar basal nourishment
on chlorophyll content, yield, quality and economics
of chickpea. Academic Journal 46: 63-66.
Singh, Guriqbal (2013). Effect of phosphorus application
and urea spray on growth and yield of summer urdbean
[Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper] genotype. Journal of Plant
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Singh, Gurbaksh, Sekhon N. and Manjit K. (1980). Effect of
phenolic compounds on the yield potential of gram
[Cicer arietinum (L.)]. Indian Journal of Plant
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Sivakumar, S.R., Nagaraj, A. (2018). Effect of Nitrobenzene
granules and Seaweed extracts on biochemical contents
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Sujatha, K. B. (2001). Effect of foliar spray of chemical and
bioregulators on growth and yield of greengram
(Vigna radiata L.). M.Sc. (Ag.) Thesis, Tamil Nadu
Agriculture University, Coimbatore.
Verma, C. K., Yadav, D.D., Singh, Vishram and Yadav,
R.S. (2011). Effect on yield and quantity of green gram
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164 Journal
Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020of Food Legumes 33(3): 164-169, 2020

Association among yield and yield contributing characters in Chickpea

(Cicer arietinum L.)
SK JAIN*, LD SHARMA, KC GUPTA and VIPIN KUMAR

Rajasthan Agricultural Research
Institute (SKN Agriculture University
Jobner) Durgapura, Jaipur
*E-mail: skjain.pbg.coalalsot@sknau.ac.in
Received: August 8, 2020
Accepted: November 9, 2020
Handling Editor:
Dr. Jayamani P., TNAU, Coimbatore
ABSTRACT
Forty four genotypes of desi chickpea were investigated to capture the existing
genetic variability, correlation and path for yield and other quantitative traits
by using randomized block design with three replications at RARI Durgapura,
Jaipur Rajasthan. Genotypes revealed significant wide genetic variation for all
most all the quantitative traits. High phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV)
and genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) was observed by plant height up
to first pod followed by 100 seed weight and grain yield. Higher broad sense
heritability (h2b) was recorded for days to 50% flowering, followed by 100
seed weight, plant height up to first pod, grain yield, total plant height, and
number of pods/plant. The high genetic advances per cent mean was observed
by plant height up to first pod, 100 seed weight and grain yield. The correlation
of grain yield with days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, number of pods/
plant, number of primary branches/plant and 100 seed weight was positive and
significant both at genotypic and phenotypic levels. Path coefficient analysis at
genotypic level depicted that among the 9 causal (independent) traits; 100 seed
weight, days to maturity, number of pods/plant had positive and directly
influence on grain yield.

Key words: Chickpea, GCV, PCV, Correlation coefficient, Path-analysis

INTRODUCTION general, protein content in chickpea varies from 12.4-

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the second most
important cool season pulse crop in the world and is
grown in at least 33 countries including central and
west Asia, south Europe, Ethiopia, North Africa, North
and South America and Australia. India is the largest
chickpea producing country (72.0%) in the world
followed by Australia (6 %), Turkey and USA (4%)
(FAOSTAT, 2019). In India, chickpea is usually grown
throughout the nation covering North Hill (dry and
cool), North East Hills (wet and mild hot), North West
plains (wet and cool), North East plains (humid/wet
and cool) and Central and Southern part (dry and hot)
of India. Some of the states like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar
Pradesh and Bihar have lost considerable area of
chickpea due to expansion of irrigated wheat
cultivation where as other states like Madhya Pradesh,
Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka have
brought additional area (Arya et al., 2019). Among all
the pulses, chickpea is the most important rabi crop
with high acceptability and wider use in India.
Chickpea is an excellent source of protein and
carbohydrate and it's protein is of high quality as
compared to other pulse crops (Ercan et al., 1995). In
31.5 % (Hulse, 1975). Chickpeas are a rich source of
protein, vitamin A and iron (Bender and Bender, 2005).
Genetic improvement of any crop mainly
depends upon the amount of genetic variability
present in the population and the germplasm serves
as a valuable source of base population and provide
scope for wide variability (Ramya and Senthilkumar,
2009). Since genotypic and environmental factors are
the main components for determining the yield and
quality, a primary aim should be the determination of
effects of genotypic factors for selection. As the effect
of environment on yield and quality in plants is not
hereditable, effect of genotypic factors on yield and
quality in plant breeding research need to be examined.
The relative values of phenotypic and genotypic
coefficient of variation, therefore gives an idea about
the magnitude of variability present in a population
since the estimate of genotypic and phenotypic
coefficient of variation, heritability and expected
genetic advance are useful for yield improvement and
the above values were estimated to know the scope of
improvement in the yield of chickpea genotypes
(Shanmugam and Kalaimagal, 2019). The nature and
 Jain et al. : Association among yield and yield contributing characters in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)
magnitude of correlation among component traits
towards yield is also essential. Correlation coefficient
and path analysis offers a means of determining the
important traits influencing the dependent trait such
as grain yield and it also helps in the determination of
the selection criteria for simultaneous improvement of
various characters along with economic yield. Thus,
the study of variability, correlation and path coefficient
analysis of grain yield with other yield contributing
characters is of immense importance to get information
regarding exercising selection pressure in relation to
yield attributes for genetic improvement. Being a self-
pollinated crop, chickpea exhibits a good amount of
variability for various characters. Therefore, the
present study was undertaken to determine the
variability and character association with respect to
yield and its components in chickpea.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 44 genotypes of chickpea were
undertaken for present study collected from different
centers of All India Coordinated Improvement Project
of Chickpea. The present study was conducted in
randomized block design (RBD) with three
replications at Rajasthan Agricultural Research
Institute (SKNAU) Durgapura Jaipur Rajasthan, India
during the crop season 2019-20. The genotypes were
sown in first week of November month under normal
sown conditions. The experimental unit was four row
plots of 4 m long and spacing between row to row was
kept to 30 cm and plant to plant was 10 cm. The NPK
20:40:00 fertilizers were applied as basal dose.
Weather data (temperature, relative humidity and rain
fall) during crop season rabi 2019-20 are presented in
figure 1. All the other recommended practices were
followed. The data were recorded from each genotype
as per procedure. The considered traits are days to
50% flowering, total plant height (cm), height from
ground to first pod (cm), days to maturity, number of
primary branches plant-1, number of pods plant-1, as
100 seed weight and grain yield (kg) ha-1. The genetic
parameters viz., mean, genotypic variance, phenotypic
variance, broad sense heritability and genetic advance
(GA) were estimated by applying formula followed by
Burton and Devane, (1953). Further, genotypic and
phenotypic correlation coefficient for the undertaken
Table 1. Analysis of variance for yield and other quantitative characters in chickpea
Source of DF Seed yield Days to 50% Days to Total plant
Variation flowering maturity height
Replication 2 109,270.41 1.303 84.008 7.002
Treatment 43 140,769.92** 178.02** 157.69** 248.01**
Error 86 15,973.22 0.28 77.62 30.12
165
Figure 1. Weather data (Temperature, Relative
humidity and rain fall) during crop season Rabi 2019-
20
traits was calculated as per the method of Al-Jibouri et
al, (1958). Path analysis was done as per method given
by Dewey and Lu, (1959).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Significant genetic variation was observed for all
most all the quantitative traits among the given 44
genotypes of chickpea under late sown conditions
(Table 1). The genetic constants for the characters
revealed that the magnitude of phenotypic coefficient
of variation (PCV) was higher than the corresponding
genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all the traits
denoting environmental factors influencing their
expression (Table 2).
The higher values of GCV and PCV was observed
by plant height up to first pod (31.02%, 34.52%)
followed by 100 seed weight (27.24%, 27.59%) and
grain yield (21.53%, 25.33%). It was medium for
number of pods per plant (14.37%, 18.33%), total plant
height (13.77%, 16.38%) and days to 50% flowering
(10.90%, 10.92%). While, lowest GCV and PCV (3.89%,
7.57 %) was noted for days to maturity. Similarly a
good deal of genetic variability for different yield and
yield related traits was reported by various scientists
(Ali et al., 2011, Jha et al., 2015, Gul et al., 2013). Wide
differences between PCV and GCV implied their
susceptibility to environmental fluctuation, whereas
narrow differences between PCV and GCV
suggested their relative resistance to environmental
alterations.
Number of Height up to Primary 100 seed
pods/plant first pod branches/plant weight
3.278 78.945 0.172 6.607
91.49** 1,873.64** 0.312** 121.44**
15.796 138.23 0.083 1.032
166 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

Table 2. Mean, SE, coefficient of variation, heritability and expected genetic advance for grain yield and other quantitative
characters in chickpea under late sown conditions
Seed yield Days to 50% Days to Total plant Number of Height up Primary 100 seed
flowering maturity height pods/plant to first pod branches/plant weight
Mean 947.09 70.60 134.833 61.883 34.94 77.54 2.86 23.25
SE 103.19 0.43 7.19 4.48 3.24 9.60 0.23 0.82
GCV 21.53 10.90 3.83 13.77 14.37 31.02 9.63 27.24
PCV 25.33 10.92 7.57 16.38 18.33 34.52 13.93 27.59
HA 72.25 99.53 25.58 70.68 61.50 80.71 47.86 97.49
GA 357.14 15.81 5.38 14.76 8.11 44.51 0.39 12.88
GA% Mean 37.71 22.40 3.99 23.85 23.22 57.40 13.73 55.41

The estimate of GCV and PCV alone is not much
helpful in determining the heritable portion. The
amount of advance to be expected from selection can
be achieved by estimating heritability along with
coefficient of variability. Burton (1952) also suggested
that GCV and heritability estimate would give better
information about the efficiency of selection. The
heritability in broad sense was observed to be low to
very high and ranged from 25.58 (days to maturity) to
99.53 per cent (days to 50% flowering) for all the traits
which had significant differences among the
accessions. Higher broad sense heritability (h2b) was
recorded for days to 50% flowering (99.53%) followed
by 100 seed weight (97.49%), plant height up to first
pod (80.71%) grain yield (72.25%), total plant height
(70.68%) and number of pods/plant (61.50%). The low
heritability was observed for days to maturity (25.58%)
and primary branches/plant (47.86%). The high
degree of heritability estimates for most of the traits
suggested that the characters are under genotypic
control whereas the low heritability for days to
maturity and primary branches/plant suggested that
these two characters are influenced under
environment.
The value of genetic advance (GA) calculated in
this study ranged from 0.39% to 357.14 % having
highest 357.14 % GA for grain yield kg ha-1 followed
by plant height up to first pod exhibiting 44.51% GA.
The estimates of genetic advance did not project the
actual genetic gain that has been attained in relation
to the per se performance which obviously is not
uniform in different populations and even in the same
population. Therefore, the expected genetic gain as per
cent of mean was computed. According to Johnson et
al., (1955) categorized genetic advance as percentage
of mean values in three categories like low (0-10%),
moderate (10-20%) and high (>20%). In the present
investigation it ranged between 4.91 (days to 50%
flowering) to 40.297 per cent (plant height). The
probable genetic advance as percentage of mean was
high for plant height up to first pod (57.40%) followed
by 100 seed weight (55.41%), grain yield (37.71%), total
plant height (23.85%), number of pods/plant (23.22%)
and days to 50% flowering (22.40%) while it was
moderate for primary branches/plant (13.73%). The
low estimate of genetic advance as percentage of mean
was observed for days to maturity (3.99%).
High to moderately high heritability coupled
with high to medium genetic advance and GCV were
noticed for plant height up to first pod, 100 seed weight,
grain yield, plant height, number of pods/plant and
days to 50% flowering. From the study of heritability
and genetic advance it is inferred that simple selection
among genotypes can bring about significant
improvement in these traits as the heritability and
estimated genetic advance were high.
In crop improvement programmes, a number of
traits are often to be handled together by a breeder as
most of the traits are correlated. Grain yield is a
complex trait and is dependent on several component
traits. Therefore, character association was
investigated in the present study to assess the
associations among yield and its contributing traits
for enhancing the usefulness of selection. The
effectiveness of plant breeding programme or selection
programme depend upon the nature of relationship
between grain yield and other component characters
as more directly a trait is associated with yield in the
right direction, more will be the success of the selection
programme. Hence, after obtaining the knowledge of
nature and magnitude of genetic variation, it is also
important to gather information on association of
grain yield with other component characters. An
estimate of total correlation is not enough to fully
evaluate the association between two variables,
because it is the consequence of interaction between
genotypes and environment. Genotypic correlation
provides measures of genetic association between
characters and is more reliable than phenotypic
correlation because it eliminates the environmental
effects. In general, genotypic correlation coefficient was
higher than their respective phenotypic correlation
coefficient in the present investigation. The difference
between genotypic and phenotypic correlation
coefficient was found varied according to characters.
 Jain et al. : Association among yield and yield contributing characters in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) 167

This showed that there was high extent of association

between two variables at genotypic level; its
phenotypic expression was reduced by the effect of
environment. It has also showed that there was an
intrinsic association between the characters
investigated.
In the present investigation the grain yield
showed positive and significant correlation with days
to 50% flowering (rg 0.217*, rp 0.186*), days to maturity
(rg 0.487**, rp 0.233**), number of pods/plant (rg 0.279*,
rp 0.199*), number of primary branches/plant (rg
0.190*, rp 0.078), 100-seed weight (rg 0.425**, rp 0.367**)
both at genotypic and phenotypic levels (Table 3,
Figure 2). It is also noticed that characters viz., days to
50% flowering, days to maturity, number of pods/
plant, number of primary branches/plant, 100-seed
weight exhibited positive associations with grain
yield have also showed positive associations among
themselves. The association of grain yield with other
quantitative traits observed in the present studies, are
agreed with the earlier reports (Aycicek and Babagil
2013, Gul et al., 2013, Indubala et al., 2015 and Paneliya
et al., 2017). Present results indicating that these traits
had good association with seed yield in chickpea and
therefore, was important trait for bringing genetic
improvement in grain yield. Johanson et al., (1955)
emphasized that these correlated yield attributes can
serve as indicator characters for improving seed yield.
Correlation co-efficient indicates only the general
associations between any two traits without tracing
any possible causes of such associations. In such
situations, the path coefficient analysis at phenotypic
level is done to partition the correlation coefficients in
to direct and indirect effects. Path coefficient analysis
measure the direct influence of one variable upon the
other and permits separation of correlation coefficient
DF: Days to 50 % flowering; DM: Days to maturity;
PH: Total plant height; NPP: Number of pods per
plant; HP: Plant height from ground to first pod; NPB:
Number of primary branches per plant; SW: 100-Seed
weight
Figure 2: Character association of seed yield with
other traits in chickpea
into component of direct and indirect effects.
Partitioning of total correlations into direct and indirect
effects provide actual information on contribution of
characters and thus forms the basis for selection to
improve the yield of plant population. Path analysis
at phenotypic level (Table 4) revealed that highly
positive and substantial direct effects on the expression
of grain yield per plant were exerted by 100-seed
weight (0.7346) and days to maturity (0.363) exerted
positive and direct effects on grain yield (Table 4).
While the rest of the characters contributed very less
or negative direct effects on seed yield. These characters
have also been reported as major direct contributors
towards grain yield in chickpea. These results are
agreed with the earlier reports of Farshadfar and
Farshadfar, 2008, Padamavati et al., 2013, Aycicek and
Babagil 2013 and Indubala et al., 2015, Shafique et al.,
2016, Mohammed and Fikre 2018).
Positive indirect effects on seed yield were exerted
by total plant height via number of pods/plant
(0.1924), days to 50% flowering (0.1608) and days to

Table 3. Phenotypic correlation coefficient values between different characters in chickpea

Seed yield Days to Days to Total plant Number of Height up to Primary
50% maturity height pods/plant first pod branches/plant
flowering
Days to 50% rg 0.217*
flowering rp 0.186*
Days to maturity rg 0.487** 0.977**
rp 0.233** 0.500**
Total plant height rg -0.504** -0.151NS -0.431**
rp -0.345** -0.133NS -0.216*
Number of rg 0.279* 0.137NS -0.154NS 0.816**
pods/plant rp 0.199* 0.100NS 0.006NS 0.670**
Height up to first pod rg 0.150NS 0.321** 0.554** -0.181* -0.136NS
rp 0.139NS 0.287** 0.236** -0.086NS -0.091NS
Number of primary rg 0.190* 0.381** 0.182* -0.089NS 0.138NS 0.390**
branches/plant rp 0.078NS 0.260** 0.049NS -0.005NS 0.073NS 0.255**
100-Seed weight rg 0.425** -0.239** -0.386** 0.221* 0.108NS -0.307** -0.333**
rp 0.367** -0.238** -0.187* 0.191* 0.102NS -0.273** -0.221*
168 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

Table 4. Direct (diagonal) and indirect (non diagonal) effects of different characters on grain yield in chickpea
Days to 50% Days to Total plant Number of Plant height up to first Primary branches 100 seed
flowering maturity height pods/plant pod /plant weight
Days to 50% -0.4259 -0.3827 0.0644 -0.1366 0.1015 -0.1622 -0.0582
flowering
Days to maturity 0.3262 0.363 -0.0442 0.1249 -0.0909 0.0936 0.047
Total plant height 0.1608 0.1294 -1.063 0.1924 -0.2363 0.095 -0.8673
Number of pods/plant -0.0027 -0.0029 0.0015 0.0084 0.0026 -0.0033 0.0011
Height up to first pod 0.0698 0.0733 -0.0651 0.0897 -0.2929 0.0973 -0.0319
Number of primary -0.0121 -0.0082 0.0028 -0.0123 0.0105 -0.0317 -0.0044
branches/plant
100-Seed weight 0.1004 0.0951 0.5994 -0.0999 0.0801 0.1016 0.7346
Residual effect: 0.6882

maturity (0.1294), days to maturity via days to 50%
flowering (0.3262) and number of pods/plant (0.1249),
100-seed weight via total plant height (0.5994), number
of primary branches/plant (0.1016) and days to 50%
flowering (0.1004). The remaining traits contributed
very less or negative indirect effects on grain yield.
These results agree with the earlier reports (Vaghela et
al., 2009, Ojha et al., 2011, Singh and Shivanath, 2012,
Aycicek and Babagil, 2013, Kumar et al., 2018 and
Shanmugam and Kalaimagal, 2019). The residual
effect was found 0.6882 represent some more
associated components that are contributing towards
seed yield.
On the basis of results, it can be concluded that
whatever may be the characters chosen for increasing
the seed yield the selecting plant types must have high
100-seed weight, number of primary branches per
plant and pods per plant. These traits showed positive
direct effect along with significant and positive
association with grain yield except others due to some
biotic and abiotic factors. Therefore, these traits are
likely to be successfully employed for the selection of
high yielding chickpea genotypes or using as donor
parent in breeding programme to improve yield and
its related component.
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Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020of Food Legumes 33(3): 170-174, 2020

Phenology, thermal indices and yield of summer greengram

[Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] under different sowing dates in
Gangetic plains of West Bengal
KUNAL KUMAR1, MRITYUNJAY GHOSH1*, S DOLUI2, SIBAJEE BANERJEE1 and A SAHA3

1
Department of Agronomy,
2
Department of Agricultural
Biochemistry,
3
Department of Agricultural
Meteorology and Physics
Bidhan Chandra Krishi
Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur 741252,
Nadia, West Bengal, India
*E-mail: mghoshbckv@rediffmail.com
Received: August 5, 2020
Accepted: November 9, 2020
Handling Editor:
Dr. Narendra Kumar, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur
ABSTRACT
A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of four sowing dates (1
February, 15 February, 1 March and 15 March) on four varieties (Samrat, Meha,
Sonali, Sukumar) of greengram during pre-kharif (summer) season of 2016 at
‘C’ Block Farm of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalyani, Nadia,
West Bengal, India. Mean cultivar days from sowing to emergence, flower
initiation, pod initiation and maturity of greengram crop were 4.4, 43.5, 53.3
and 74.8 days, respectively. The duration of greengram was reduced successively
with delay in sowing from 1 February (77.5 days) to 15 March (71.7 days). The
average summed growing degree days (GDD), heliothermal units (HTU) and
photothermal units (PTU) for life cycle were recorded as 1477°C day, 11212°C
hour and 18047°C hour, respectively. Greengram sown on 1 March produced
the highest grain yield (762.5 kg/ha) being at par with 15 February (745.0 kg/ha),
which was 8.1 and 13.8% greater over 1 February and 15 March sowings,
respectively. The correlations between thermal indices and grain yield revealed
that GDD (r=0.444**), HTU (r=0.493**) and PTU (r=0.473**) during pod initiation
to maturity had positive effect (P<0.01) on economic yield of greengram in the
investigation. Based on grain yield, four varieties could be arranged as: Sukumar
(765.6 kg/ha) > Samrat (720.3 kg/ha) > Meha (709.7 kg/ha) > Sonali (686.6 kg/ha).
Protein content in grain of greengram remained unaffected due to differences
in sowing time during summer, while Samrat had maximum protein content
(22.2%).

Key words: Greengram, Phenology, Sowing date, Thermal indices, Variety,

Yield

Greengram [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] is the third
most important pulse crop after chickpea and
pigeonpea in India. It occupies 3.38 million ha and
contributes about 1.61 million tonnes of pulses in India
(GoI, 2015). Greengram is primarily a rainy season
crop, but its cultivation during summer is becoming
popular with the advent of high-yielding, short-
duration and photo-insensitive genotypes in the
country. Among different cultivation practices, sowing
time is an important parameter which affects the
production of greengram crop to a great extent. Its
sowing becomes delayed even in the first fortnight of
April due to late harvesting of rabi crops like rapeseed-
mustard, potato, wheat, etc. The study on the
phenological development of mungbean cultivars
under different growth environments has been
reported in North India (Singh et al., 2018) and Western
India (Makone et al., 2015), but such work on summer
greengram in West Bengal has not been done till date.
Besides, the related thermal indices like growing
degree days (GDD), heliothermal units (HTU) and
photothermal units (PTU) at different phenophases
have not been determined and correlated with yield
parameters of greengram crop in Eastern India, more
preciously in West Bengal.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A field experiment was conducted for greengram
crop during pre-kharif season (February-May) of 2016
on a medium land loamy soil at ‘C’ Block Farm (22o57’
N, 88o20’ E and altitude 9.75 m) of Bidhan Chandra
Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV), Kalyani, Nadia, West
Bengal, India. Treatments replicated thrice were
assigned in a split-plot design comprising four sowing
dates (1 February, 15 February, 1 March and 15 March)
in main plots and four varieties (Samrat, Meha, Sonali
and Sukumar) in sub-plots. Seeds of four greengram
varieties were sown at 30 cm row spacing in the
experimental plots (4 m × 3 m) as per sowing time
schedule. The uniform crop management practices like
vermicompost @ 2 t/ha as basal, one hand weeding at
25 days after sowing (DAS) and one irrigation at 30
DAS were adopted.
The daily meteorological data at Kalyani for the
period of investigation (February to May, 2016) were
 Kumar et al. : Sowing date effects on phenology and yield of greengram
collected from the AICRP on Agrometeorology, BCKV,
West Bengal. The monthly-average maximum
temperature and bright sunshine hour were increased
from February (30.3oC and 5.24 hours) to May (35.5oC
and 7.54 hours) during the experimental period. The
month-wise rainfall was recorded as: 28.0 mm
(February), 35.8 mm (March), 1.0 mm (April) and 223.4
mm (May). The phenophases (viz. emergence, flower
initiation, pod initiation and maturity) of greengram
varieties at different sowing dates were noted by
regular field inspection method. Phenophase-wise
growing degree days [GDD= (Tmax + Tmin) / 2 - Tb] were
calculated following Nuttonson (1955) by taking a base
temperature (Tb) of 5oC. Heliothermal units [HTU=
GDD × Bright sunshine hours] and photothermal units
[PTU= GDD × Day length] were determined by the
equations proposed by Singh et al. (1990) and
Nuttonson (1948), respectively. The plant height, yield
components, grain yield and protein content were
recorded following standard methods. The
correlations between thermal indices at different
phenophases and grain yield were made.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Phenophase duration: The duration of 1 February sown
greengram crop was 77.5 days, which was reduced by
0.8 days (15 February), 4.3 days (1 March) and 5.8 days
(15 March) for delayed sowings in the investigation
(Table 1). Similar successive decrease in duration of
two mungbean varieties (NM 92 and M 1) for delay in
sowing from 30 March (68.1 days) to 15 July (60.1 days)
at Peshawar, Pakistan was reported by Rehman et al.
(2009). Although the variations in the phenophases
among four sowing dates were complex in the study,
but the trends during emergence to flower initiation
(E–FI), and pod initiation to maturity (PI–M) primarily
determined the differences in duration of greengram
crop. Based on life cycle, four greengram varieties could
be arranged as: Sukumar (76.0 days) > Meha (75.0
days) > Sonali (74.7 days) > Samrat (73.4 days).
Growing degree days: Mean GDD from sowing to
emergence (E), flower initiation (FI), pod initiation (PI)
and maturity (M) were 67, 792, 1005 and 1477oC days,
respectively (Table 1). Mean air temperature during
emergence to flower initiation (E–FI) and pod initiation
to maturity (PI–M) was higher for 15 March sown crop
than 1 February, which accelerated the phenological
development of the delayed sown crop during these
two stages, but resulted in greater accumulation of
GDD (814oC days vs. 643oC days and 489oC days vs.
454oC days) than the mid March sown crop. However,
Singh et al. (2018) reported successive decrease in
summed GDD (1525oC day to 1229oC day) with delay
in sowing of kharif mungbean from 1 July to 10 August
at Ludhiana, Punjab. Sukumar required maximum
171
GDD for entire life (1505oC days) compared to other
three varieties (Samrat, Meha and Sonali) in the
experiment.
Heliothermal units: The variations in mean daily
temperature and bright sunshine hour among four
sowing dates resulted in varied accumulated
heliothermal units at different phenophases and life
cycle of greengram crop. Early sowing (1 February) of
greengram recorded the lowest summed total HTU
(8767oC hour), which was successively increased due
to delay in sowing on 15 February (11756oC hour), 1
March (12044oC hour) and 15 March (12283oC hour)
(Table 1). Tijare et al. (2017) reported similar greater
summed HTU (12109oC hour) for late-sown greengram
(30 March) compared to earlier sowing on 1, 10 and 20
March at Akola, Maharashtra. Late sown crop (15
March) being experienced with higher temperature
and bright sunshine hour during emergence to flower
initiation (E–FI) accumulated more summed HTU
(6630 vs. 3996oC hours) than early sown crop.
Photothermal units: Temperature generally governed
the onset of different phenophases in greengram crop,
but day length had also influence on photo-thermal
requirements of the crop. There was no significant effect
of sowing time on photothermal units of greengram
for entire life cycle in the study. As the vernal equinox
(21 March) indicated equal length of day and night
(about 12 hours each), so the tested greengram
varieties sown at four different dates at 15 days interval
usually received more or less similar day lengths before
or after vernal equinox (21 March) in the experiment
(Table 1). Four varieties differed in photothermal
requirements during early phases (S–E and E–FI) of
summer greengram in new alluvial zone of West
Bengal. Mean cultivar summed PTU at different
phenophases were recorded as: 778oC hour (S-E),
8678oC hour (E-FI), 2622oC hour (FI-PI), 5969oC hour
(PI-M), and 18047oC hour (S-M).
Grain yield and quality: Sowing time could not
influence the number of pods/plant of summer
greengram in the experiment, but Ram and Dixit (2001)
reported significant improvemrnt in number of pods/
plant with delayed sowings on March 30 (17.4) and
April 9 (17.1) compared to early sowing on March 20
(15.9) at Faizabad, Pakistan. Number of seeds/pod
and 1000 seed weight, being significantly influenced
by sowing dates and varieties, primarily determined
the variations in grain yield. Greengram sown on 1
March produced the highest grain yield (762.5 kg/ha)
being at par with 15 February (745.0 kg/ha), which
was 8.1 and 13.8% greater over 1 February and 15
March sowings, respectively. Thus, a 15 day period
i.e. second fortnight of February might be optimum for
sowing of summer greengram in New Alluvial Zone
of West Bengal. Similarly, sowing of mungbean during
172 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

Table 1: Effect of sowing date and variety on phenology and thermal indices of summer greengram
Emergence Flower Initiation to Pod Initiation to
Sowing to Emergence Sowing to Maturity
Treatment to Flower Initiation Pod Initiation Maturity
(S - E) (S - M)
(E - FI) (FI - PI) (PI - M)
Phenophase duration (days)
Sowing date
1 February 4.6 40.3 9.5 23.2 77.5
15 February 4.6 39.6 10.0 22.8 76.8
1 March 4.0 38.4 10.0 20.9 73.2
15 March 4.4 37.9 9.8 20.1 71.7
CD (P= 0.05) 0.24 0.31 0.30 0.41 0.52
Variety
Samrat 4.3 38.3 9.6 21.3 73.4
Meha 4.3 38.8 10.2 21.9 75.0
Sonali 4.7 39.3 9.8 21.5 75.7
Sukumar 4.3 39.8 9.8 22.3 76.0
CD (P=0.05) NS 0.41 NS 0.39 0.45
Growing degree days (oC days)
Sowing date
1 February 54 643 170 454 1320
15 February 72 694 207 478 1451
1 March 66 751 234 465 1517
15 March 77 814 241 489 1621
CD (P=0.05) 3.8 6.3 6.4 7.5 4.2
Variety
Samrat 66 704 208 467 1445
Meha 64 717 218 481 1480
Sonali 71 727 216 466 1480
Sukumar 67 750 213 474 1505
CD (P=0.05) 5.1 7.8 NS 9.4 8.1
Heliothermal units (oC hour)
Sowing date
1 February 297 3996 1361 3601 8767
15 February 453 4940 1416 4247 11056
1 March 546 5546 2055 3897 12044
15 March 640 6630 1950 3763 12983
CD (P=0.05) 25.8 48.1 51.0 74.1 820.0
Variety
Samrat 467 5092 1650 3832 11040
Meha 459 5194 1738 3946 11336
Sonali 512 5292 1732 3834 10881
Sukumar 499 5536 1662 3896 11212
CD (P=0.05) 28.0 67.1 NS 91.5 NS
Photothermal units (oC hour)
Sowing date
1 February 604 7486 2036 5590 15716
15 February 810 8214 2519 6960 18521
1 March 776 9041 2901 5934 18653
15 March 920 9970 3032 5393 19315
CD (P=0.05) 39.4 76.9 80.5 248.6 NS
Variety
Samrat 747 8416 2559 5958 17680
Meha 737 8573 2688 6018 18016
Sonali 826 8696 2622 5852 18038
Sukumar 778 8678 2622 5969 18453
CD (P=0.05) 54.9 95.3 NS NS
NS=Non significant

February (3 and 18) was recommended due to better
seed yield (889.7-908.6 kg/ha) compared to sowings
during March (5 and 20) at Mymensingh, Bangladesh
(Sarkar et al., 2004). Among four varieties, Sukumar
recorded highest grain yield (765.6 kg/ha), which was
45.3, 55.8 and 79.0 kg/ha greater seed yield over
Samrat, Meha and Sonali, respectively. Sowing date ×
variety effect on grain yield of greengram was found
significant, which showed that Sukumar sown on 1
March yielded highest (811.1 kg/ha) in the study and
performed better in sowing after middle of February
(Table 3). The variation in heat use efficiency among
 Kumar et al. : Sowing date effects on phenology and yield of greengram 173

Table 2: Effect of sowing date and variety on plant characteristics, yield and quality of summer greengram
Treatment Plant No. of No. of 1000 seed Grain Stover yield Heat use efficiency Protein
height branches/plant seeds/pod weight (g) yield (kg/ha) (kg/ha) (kg/oC day) content (%)
(cm)
Sowing date
1 February 37.7 3.16 9.72 40.2 705.6 1840.3 0.53 20.3
15 February 37.6 3.16 9.88 40.2 745.0 1913.9 0.49 20.6
1 March 40.0 3.08 9.97 42.5 762.5 2200.9 0.50 20.4
15 March 42.8 2.87 8.70 39.5 670.0 2019.9 0.43 21.3
CD (P= 0.05) NS NS 0.45 1.39 31.5 115.9 0.02 NS
Variety
Samrat 38.2 3.28 9.58 45.5 720.3 1899.5 0.50 22.2
Meha 40.4 3.16 9.17 43.6 709.7 1942.1 0.48 20.9
Sonali 38.8 2.99 8.95 37.6 686.6 1976.8 0.47 18.1
Sukumar 39.5 2.84 11.33 35.9 765.6 2156.5 0.51 21.4
CD (P= 0.05) NS 0.32 0.61 1.65 19.8 73.1 0.013 0.64

Table 3: Interaction effect between sowing date and day length during later part of life cycle favoured the
variety on grain yield of summer greengram pod and seed development i.e. grain yield of greengram
Sowing date Grain yield (kg/ha) during pre-kharif season. Makone et al. (2015) reported
Samrat Meha Sonali Sukumar positive significant relationship between PTU and
1 February 715.1 689.2 691.7 726.5 grain yield of greengram, while non-significant effect
15 February 756.2 752.5 719.1 752.2 for GDD and HTU at Anand, Gujarat.
1 March 774.3 755.3 709.1 811.1
15 March 638.9 642.0 626.5 772.5 It could be concluded that the duration of summer
CD (P=0.05) Sowing date × Variety 42.5, Variety × Sowing date 46.4 greengram was reduced by 5.8 days with delay in
sowing from 1 February (77.5 days) to 15 March (71.7
Table 4: Correlations between thermal indices and grain days). Mean summed GDD, HTU and PTU for entire
yield of summer greengram life cycle was 1477oC days, 11213oC hour and 18047oC
Thermal Unit Growth stage Correlation hour, respectively. Greengram sown on 1 March
co-efficient (r) recorded the highest grain yield (762.5 kg/ha) being
S-E -0.161 at par with 15 February (745.0 kg/ha). Among four
E-FI -0.095
GDD
F-PI -0.098
varieties, Sukumar yielded highest (765.6 kg/ha) and
PI-M 0.444** had moderate protein content (21.4%).
S-E -0.179
E-FI -0.153 AKNOWLEDGEMENT
HTU
F-PI -0.108
PI-M 0.493**
We acknowledge the fund support from
S-E -0.194 Rashtriya Krish Vikas Yojana, Government of West
E-FI -0.119 Bengal for the investigation. We are also thankful to
PTU
F-PI -0.116 Sri Kitab Ali Mandal, Sri Nirmal Biswas and Sri Sunil
PI-M 0.473** Bhuina for their cooperation during the field work.
Sample size: n=48, r value=0.325* and 0.418** at 5% and 1%
level of significance, respectively. REFERENCES

four cultivars was noted between 0.47 (Sonali) and
0.51 kg/oC day (Sukumar) in the study. Protein content
in greengram seed remained unaffected due to
differences in sowing time, but four varieties could be
arranged as: Samrat (22.2%)> Sukumar (21.4%)> Meha
(20.9%)> Sonali (18.1%).
Correlation between grain yield and thermal indices:
The correlation studies between thermal indices and
grain yield revealed that GDD (r = 0.444**), HTU (r =
0.493**) and PTU (r = 0.473**) during pod initiation to
maturity (PI–M) showed positive (P < 0.01) influence
on economic yield of greengram in the investigation
(Table 4). Thus, temperature, bright sunshine hour and
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on summer greengram (Vigna radiata L.) at
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and thermal requirements of various plant materials.
In: Proceedings of a symposium on Vernalization and
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photoperiodism (Eds. AE Murneek and PR Whyte).
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Nuttonson MY. 1955. Wheat climatic relationships and
use of phenology in ascertaining the thermal and
photothermal requirement of wheat. American
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Ram SN and Dixit RS. 2001. Growth, yield attributing
parameters and quality of summer greengra (Vigna
radiata L. Wilczek) as influenced by dates of sowing
and phosphorus. Indian Journal of Agricultural
Research 35(4): 275-277.
Rehman A, Khalil SK, Nigar S. and Rehman S. 2009.
Phenology, plant height and yield of mungbean
varieties in response to planting date. Sarhad Journal
of Agriculture 25(2):147-151.
Sarkar MAR, Kabir MH, Begum M and Salam MA. 2004.
Yield performance of mungbean as influenced by
planting date, variety and plant density. Journal of
Agronomy 3(1):18-24.
Singh G, Narwal SS, Rao VUM and Dahiya DS. 1990. Effect
of sowing date on requirement of growing degree
days, heliothermal units and photothermal units, and
phenology of winter maize (Zea mays). Indian Journal
of Agricultural Sciences 60(11): 723-731.
Singh G, Virk HK, Aggarwal N, Khanna V and Gill KK.
2018. Growth environment effect on phenology,
agroclimatic indices, symbiotic parameters and
yield of kharif mungbean [Vigna radiate (L.) Wilczek]
genotypes. Journal of Food Legumes 31(4): 205-208.
Tijare B, Chorey A, Bhale V and Kakde S. 2017. Phenology
and heat unit requirement of summer greengram
varities under different sowing windows. International
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6(4):685-691.
 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3): 175-180, 2020

Yield gap analysis and economics of front line demonstrations

of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) under humid south eastern plain zone
of Rajasthan
RK SHIVRAN, RAJESH KUMAR, UMMED SINGH*1 and CS PRAHARAJ2

Agricultural Research Station,
Ummedganj, Agriculture
University, Kota-324 001, Rajasthan
1
Agriculture University, Jodhpur-
342304, Rajasthan; 2ICAR-Indian
Institute of Pulses Research,
Kanpur-208024, Uttar Pradesh;
*E-mail: singhummed@yahoo.co.in
Received: April 25, 2020
Accepted: November 11, 2020
Handling Editor:
Dr Uma Sah, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur
ABSTRACT
Performance of improved production technologies of chickpea vis-à-vis
farmers’ practice was evaluated through front line demonstrations carried
out at farmers’ fields during rabi seasons of 2011-12 to 2017-18 by
Agricultural Research Station, Kota, Rajasthan. A total of 132
demonstrations were laid out in 66 ha in 20 villages of three districts
falling under humid south eastern plain zone of the state namely, Kota,
Bundi and Baran. Sowing of chickpea was done with a pre-sowing
irrigation and was carried out between second fortnight of October to
first fortnight of November. Recommended seed rate (80 kg/ha as against
100 kg/ha under farmers’ practice), line sowing, recommended NPS doses
(at 20, 40 and 30 kg/ha as N, P2O5 and S, respectively), along with newly
released improved varieties of chickpea viz., 'GNG-469' and 'GNG-1581'
were showcased under demonstrations. The results indicated that
average yield under improved technology ranged from 1693 to 1988 kg/
ha with a mean of 1859 kg/ha. The per cent enhancement in productivity
ranged from 12.2 to 23.2% with an average value of 18.93 % over the
farmers’ practice. The average yield gaps for technology, extension and
technology index were 241, 294 kg/ha and 11.5 per cent, respectively.
Majority of the farmers’ perceived strongly agreed (65.5 to 75.5%) and
very few farmers’ were strongly disagreed (0.5 to 2.5%) with the
statements. Improved technologies also enhanced average gross (INR
61,334/ha), net return (INR 44,407/ha), additional gross (INR 9,775/ha)
and net return (INR 7,761/ha) in comparison to farmers’ practice. The
demonstrations resulted in realizing higher incremental cost benefit ratio
(4.98) and benefit: cost ratio (3.62) compared to the farmers practice (3.46)
in Humid South Eastern Plain Zone of Rajasthan.

Key words: Chickpea, Economics, Front line demonstrations, Technology

Index, Yield Gap

INTRODUCTION similar increase in productivity which

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the premier
pulse crop of the Indian subcontinent as India
is the largest chickpea producer as well as
consumer in the world. In India, chickpea
covers an acreage of 10.56 million hectares
contributing 11.38 million tonnes of production
with an average productivity of 1078 kg/ha
during 2017-18 (DES 2019). Chickpea
production has gone up from 3.65 to 10.56
million tonnes from 1950-51 to 2017-18 with
increased steadily from 482 to 1078 kg/ha (DES
2019). In India, the leading chickpea producing
states are Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,
Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and
Uttar Pradesh. These six states, contribute 89%
of total chickpea production of India. Indian
state of Rajasthan, chickpea occupies an
acreage of 1.57 million hectares with a
production of 1.69 million tonnes; and the
productivity of the crop reaches at 1074 kg/ha
176 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020
(DES 2019). The major chickpea growing area
in Humid South Eastern Plain Zone of
Rajasthan include three districts viz. Kota
(covering 52,419 hectares with production of
77,531 tonnes and productivity of 1510 kg/ha),
Bundi (50,597 hectares with 64,815 tonnes and
1280 kg/ha) and Baran (71,017 hectares with
1,30,884 tonnes and 1840 kg/ha (DES 2018).
Although the productivities of chickpea in
Kota, Bundi and Baran districts are
comparatively higher over the state average
yield of 1070 kg/ha (DES 2018), yet, it is low
compared to potential productivity of the zone.
This is primarily due to unavailability of
suitable high yielding varieties (HYV) as well
as lack of information on improved agro-
techniques, especially in scientific methods of
sowing, weed management, balanced
fertilization and insect pest management.
Despite this, the productivity of chickpea can
be increased further by adopting improved
HYVs and suitable scientific crop management
practices (Asiwal and Hussain 2008 and Singh
et al. 2017). Thus, there is need to increase
production and productivity of these potential
areas through adoption of improved package
of practices (Reddy et al. 2007). This could be
possible through extensive on-farm front line
demonstrations, the main objective of which is
to demonstrate the impact of new technology
on crop productivity and profitability. Survey
of technology adoption rate in Rajasthan
indicated that there was either total lack or
partial adoption of improved practices resulting
in lower productivity levels as compared to yield
potential (recorded in the yield maximization
trials conducted on the farmers’ field). Least use
of improved varieties, higher seed rate, lack of
seed treatment, inadequate and imbalanced
fertilizer use, lack of use of plant protection
measures were some of the critical production
factors that contributed to poor and unstable
yield under farmers’ condition. Therefore, the
current investigation was undertaken in order
to find out the effectiveness of technology in
farmers’ fields.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
In the present study, performance of
improved production technologies of chickpea
against farmers’ practice was evaluated by
Agricultural Research Station, Ummedganj,
Agriculture University, Kota, Rajasthan
through front line demonstrations (FLDs). These
demonstrations were carried out at farmers’
field during winter seasons of 2011-12 to 2017-
18. A total of 132 demonstrations were laid out
in 66 ha in 20 villages of Kota, Bundi and Baran
districts under humid south eastern plain zone
of Rajasthan. The selection of cultivators was
done on the basis of Participatory Rural
Appraisal using the tool Focus Group
Discussion (Chambers 1992, Frevdenberger
1999, Campbell 2008) and necessary guidelines
on laying out of the demonstrations were
followed. Each FLD was laid out on 0.5 ha
area with an additional area of 0.5 ha adjacent
to it was devoted to farmers’ practice (check).
Characteristics of soils indicated that the
study area belonged to mostly (slightly saline)
clay to clay loam with low nitrogen, medium
phosphorus and high available potassium.
During the crop growing season, minimum
temperature ranged between 14.8 to 24.7 0 C
while, maximum temperature ranged between
31.4 to 360 C, respectively. Medium velocity
winds and high photoperiods are the other
characteristics features of this agro-eco-region.
Sowing was made with a pre-sowing irrigation
spanning over second fortnight of October to
first fortnight of November. Package of practices
developed for the zone was followed for raising
a good crop. Improved package of practices
included short/medium duration improved
varieties ('GNG-469', 'GNG-1581'), seed
treatment with (Rhizobium and PSB culture),
fungicides (Carbendazim @ 2g/kg seed),
recommended seed rate at 80 kg/ha with line
sowing, and recommended dose of nutrients
i.e. N, P 2 O 5 and S at 20, 40 and 30 kg/ha,
respectively (Table 1). Under the demonstration
plots, total fertilizers (N, P 2 O 5 and S)
requirements of crop were applied basally
through DAP and elemental sulphur as the case
may be. In control plots (checks or farmers’
practice), no fertilizer was applied. Weeds were
controlled with pre-emergence application of
 Shivran et al. : Yield gap analysis and economics in chickpea
pendimethalin 30 EC at 1.0 kg a. i./ha followed
by a need based hand weeding. Spray of
acephate 75 SP at 700g/ha was followed for
management of pod borer infestation. The
performance of chickpea crop under the
demonstration plots were compared with that
under the farmers’ practice. The farmers’
practice included use of 100 kg of home grown
seed/ha without seed treatment and no
fertilizer. The perceptions of farmers’ towards
effect of technological interventions on chickpea
performance was assessed by using a series of
question on a 5 point scale continuum ranging
from strongly agreed to strongly disagreed.
The results were analyzed in terms of B:C
ratio and net return to establish the economic
viability of the technology. The data on yield
and crop economics was obtained from total
of 132 respondents from 20 selected villages.
The yield data were collected from
demonstration and farmers practice by random
crop cutting methods, and were analyzed using
simple statistical tools. The technology yield
gap, extension yield gap and technology index
(Samui et al. 2000) were analyzed from the
following formulae.
Per cent increase in yield =
Demonstration yield (kg/ha) – Farmers practice yield (kg/ha)
100
Farmers practice yield (kg/ha)
Technology yield gap (kg/ha) = Potential
yield (kg/ha) – Demonstration yield (kg/ha)
Extension yield gap (kg/ha) =
Demonstration yield (kg/ha) - Farmers practice
yield (kg/ha)
Technology index (%) =
Potential yield (kg/ha) – Demonstrat ion yield (kg/ha)
100
Potential yield (kg/ha)
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Chickpea yield: The findings of seven years
(2011-12 to 2017-18) of FLDs conducted at
farmers’ field conditions in Kota, Baran and
Bundi districts under humid south eastern plain
zone of Rajasthan showed that improved
technology led to realization of higher crop
productivity (in the range of 1693 to 1988 kg/
177
ha as compared to 1467 to 1681 kg/ha under
farmers practice). Average yield of 132
demonstrations was worked out to be 1859 kg/
ha under improved technology vis-à-vis 1564
kg/ha under farmers’ practice. Chickpea
‘GNG-469’ grown under demonstration
recorded a higher yield ranging from 1693 to
1988 kg/ha under improved technology
(compared to 1467 to 1681 kg/ha in farmers
practice). Similarly, chickpea ‘GNG-1581’ in
improved technology recorded the yield ranging
from 1932 to 1970 kg/ha vis-à-vis 1595 to 1602
kg/ha under farmers’ practice. The adoption
of improved production technology of chickpea
cultivation enhanced the average yield by 18.9
per cent (range 12.2 to 23.2 per cent) over
farmers practice (Table 2) The results indicated
that higher average grain yield under
demonstration plots compared to farmers
practice over the seven years would attribute
to awareness and adoption of improved
technologies involving suitable high yielding
varieties ('GNG-469' and 'GNG-1581'), timely
sowing, seed treatment, balanced fertilization,
weed management and need based plant
protection measures. Kumar and Yadav (2007)
also reported that recommended dose of
phosphorous and sulphur increased both grain
yield and its quality. Above findings were in
close conformity with the results reported by
Mishra and Khare (2017), Rachhoya et al.
(2018), Tiwari and Tripathi (2014), Wadkar et
al. (2018).
Yield gap analysis: The study revealed that the
technology yield gap ranged from 112 to 468
kg/ha during seven years of demonstration
with an average value of 241 kg/ha. The
technology yield gap observed during the study
period might be attributed to the variation in
the soil fertility status of farms and local climatic
conditions. Similarly, extension yield gap were
recorded in the range of 191 to 368 kg/ha
during the study period with an average
extension yield gap of 294 kg/ha. This
emphasizes the need for awareness and
training for the farmers through various
extension methodologies such as FLDs, field
days, farmers scientist interactions, trainings,
Kisan gosthi etc.
178 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

Table 1. Differential activities observed between technological interventions and farmers’ practice under FLD in chickpea.
Component Improved technological intervention Farmers’ practice Gap
Field preparation Three ploughs Three plough Nil
Variety 'GNG-469', 'GNG-1581' Old mix seed Full
Seed rate 80 kg/ha 100 kg/ha Higher seed rate
Seed treatment Carbendazim @ 2g/kg of seed No seed treatment Full
Seed inoculation Rhizobium and PSB culture @ 10g/kg of seed No seed inoculation Full
Sowing method Line sowing Line sowing Nil
Spacing 30 cm × 10 cm 22.5 cm × 10 cm Partial
Fertilizer dose N:P: K:S; 20-40-0-30 kg/ha No use Full
Weed management Pre emergence application of Pendimethalin 30 EC @ 1.0 kg ai/ha No weeding Full
and one hand weeding
Irrigation Two irrigation at pre flowering stage and pod development stage One irrigation Partial
Plant protection Spray of Aciphate 75 SP @ 700 g/ha Use of insecticide without Partial
measures knowledge and with incorrect dose
of insecticide

Table 2. Mean productivity and diverse yield gaps observed in chickpea as a result of technological interventions under
FLDs.
Year No. of Area Variety Grain yield % increase Yield gaps
demonstrations (ha) (kg/ha) in yield over
FP Technology Extension Technology index
IT FP
(kg/ha) (kg/ha) (%)
2011-12 40 20 GNG-469 1790 1599 12.23 310 191 14.76
2012-13 20 10 GNG-469 1693 1468 15.44 407 225 19.38
2013-14 20 10 GNG-469 1988 1681 18.23 112 307 5.33
2014-15 20 10 GNG-469 1746 1467 19.19 354 279 16.86
2015-16 10 05 GNG-469 1891 1539 22.95 209 352 9.95
2016-17 10 05 GNG-1581 1970 1602 23.25 430 368 17.92
2017-18 12 06 GNG-1581 1932 1595 21.21 468 337 19.50
Total 132 66 Average 1859 1564 18.93 241 294 11.50
IT= Improved Technology; FP=Farmers’ Practice (check)

The technology index (as a measure of
feasibility of the evolved technology at farmers’
field) in the above study varied from 5.33 to
19.50 per cent (Table 2). On an average,
technology index was 11.5 per cent. Lower the
value of technology index indicated greater
feasibility of technology. This shows the efficacy
of overt performance of scientific interventions
or technologies demonstrated at farmer’s field.
As a result, this could increase the yield of
chickpea under humid south eastern plain zone
of Rajasthan. These findings corroborate the
findings reported by Praharaj et al. (2015),
Meena (2017) Bhargav et al. (2017), Singh et al.
(2017) and Vijaya Lakshmi et al. (2017).
Farmers’ perception: The results pertaining to
farmers’ perception (Table 3) towards the
statements were strongly agreed (65.5 to 75.5%)
by majority of the respondents and very few
respondents were strongly disagreed (0.5 to
2.5%). Based on the statement, 71.0 per cent
respondents for chickpea variety 'GNG-469' and
75.5% respondents for 'GNG-1581' strongly
agreed that these improved varieties fetched
higher grain yield over local varieties. The
statement that the variety 'GNG-469' and 'GNG-
1581' had no infestation of diseases viz; wilt,
ascochyta blight, and root rot over local variety
was strongly agreed by 65.5 and 73.5%
respondents and only 2.5 and 0.5 per cent
respondents, respectively. Further, the variety
'GNG-469' had higher market value over local
variety was perceived by the 74 per cent
(Strongly agreed) respondents and very few
(1.5%) strongly disagreed with the statement.
Similarly, 72 per cent respondents strongly
agreed and 6.5% had neutral response towards
the statement that the variety 'GNG-1581' had
higher market value over local variety. The
results are in consonance with findings of
Kumar and Sidana (2018) and Satyapriya et
al. (2019).
 Shivran et al. : Yield gap analysis and economics in chickpea 179

Table 3. Distribution of sample respondents according to perception towards effect of technological intervention on
chickpea (Multiple response) (n=200).
Statement Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree
Whether the variety GNG-469 recorded higher grain yield over local variety 142 (71.0) 48 (24.0) 05 (2.5) 03 (1.5) 02 (1.0)
Whether the variety GNG-469 had no infestation of diseases over local variety 131 (65.5) 51 (25.5) 09 (4.5) 04 (2.0) 05 (2.5)
Whether the variety GNG-469 had higher market value over local variety 148 (74.0) 29 (14.5) 11 (5.5) 09 (4.5) 03 (1.5)
Whether the variety GNG-1581 recorded higher grain yield over local variety 151 (75.5) 38 (19.0) 04 (2.0) 03 (1.5) 04 (2.0)
Whether the variety GNG-1581 had no infestation of diseases over local variety 147 (73.5) 44 (22.0) 04 (2.0) 04 (2.0) 01 (0.5)
Whether the variety GNG-1581 had higher market value over local variety 144 (72.0) 28 (14.0) 13 (6.5) 11 (5.5) 04 (2.0)
Note: The values given in the parenthesis denotes the percentage of respondents.

Table 4. Year-wise economics of technological interventions in chickpea as a whole as evident from FLD.
Year Cost of cultivation Net return Additional Additional gross Additional net ICBR B:C Ratio
(₹/ha) (₹/ha) cost over FP return over FP return over FP
IT FP IT FP (₹/ha) (₹/ha) IT FP
2011-12 14,476 13,181 44,606 39,571 1,295 6,330 5,035 5.11 4.10 4.02
2012-13 15,984 14,506 38,200 32,478 1,478 7,200 5,722 4.99 3.40 3.24
2013-14 18,575 16,775 43,038 35,321 1,800 9,517 7,717 5.23 3.31 3.11
2014-15 14,355 13,032 25,808 20,709 1,324 6,422 5,099 4.93 2.81 2.60
2015-16 19,800 16,800 44,494 35,526 3,000 11,968 8,968 3.99 3.25 3.11
2016-17 15,500 13,400 49,510 39,456 2,100 12,154 10,054 5.79 4.19 3.94
2017-18 19,800 16,700 65,193 53,458 3,100 14,835 11,735 4.79 4.29 4.20
Average 16,927 14,913 44,407 36,646 2,014 9,775 7,761 4.98 3.62 3.46
IT= Improved Technology; FP=Farmers’ Practice (check)

Economics: The economics of the improved harnessing of higher yield in comparison to

production technology over farmers’ practice
was calculated based on the prevailing market
prices of the inputs and outputs for the
particular year (Table 4). It was observed that
the cost of cultivation of chickpea varied from
14,355 to 19,800/ha with an average of
16,927/ha under improved technologies.
However, cost of cultivation of chickpea ranged
from 13,032 to 16,800/ha with an average
of 14,913/ha under farmer’s practices.
Improved technology also yielded higher net
returns of 44,407/ha (range from 25,808 to
65,193/ha) while, net returns of 20,709 to
53,458/ha were recorded under farmers
practices. On an average, net returns of
36,646/ha was recorded under farmers
practice. The average additional gross and net
returns of 9,775/ha and 7,761/ha,
respectively were recorded with the
incremental cost benefit ratio of 4.98. The higher
benefit cost ratio of 4.19 and 4.29 was observed
following inception of improved technology in
the year 2016-17 and 2017-18 respectively. On
an average, benefit: cost ratio under improved
technology and farmers practice were 3.62 and
3.46, respectively. Higher benefit cost ratio
under improved technology was ascribed to the
farmers’ practice. Similar findings were also
reported by Parmar et al. (2017) and Vijaya
Lakshmi et al. (2017).
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is inferred from the current study
that adoption of demonstrated improved
technology can have a long-term impact on
crop productivity and profitability in chickpea
over farmers’ practice in Humid South Eastern
Plain Zone of Rajasthan.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The financial support to meet the expenses
towards frontline demonstrations by
Department of Agricultural & Farmers Welfare,
Government of India under the scheme
National Food Security Mission through its
nodal agency ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses
Research, Kanpur is gratefully acknowledged.
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 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3): 181-190, 2020

Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) landrace diversity of North-Western

Kashmir Himalayas: Pattern of variation for morphological and yield
traits and pod cooking quality
PARVAZE A. SOFI*, IRAM SABA, ASMAT ARA, SADIA SHAFI, SAIMA GANI, RANI SHAMA,
RAYEES AHMAD and BA PADDER

Faculty of Agriculture, SKUAST-K,
Wadura, Sopore, 193201.
*E-mail: parvazesofi@gmail.com
Received: September 6, 2020
Accepted: November 9,2020
Handling Editor:
Dr. Harsh Dixit, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi
ABSTRACT
The present study was undertaken to characterize the local landrace diversity
of bean. There was a substantial variation among accessions evaluated for all
the qualitative traits as depicted by the relative frequency of accessions. Out of
93 accessions, 51 were bush type and 42 were pole type with varying degree of
twinning. Pods were predominantly green (79), followed by purple (4), red (2),
golden (2) and others (6). Seed colour was predominantly red (53) followed by
chocolate and brown (10 each), yellow (8), while as two each were pink, purple,
green, black and white with varying degrees of mottling of seed coat. Eighteen
accessions were small seeded, 59 were medium and 16 were large seeded. In
terms of pod quality, 69 genotypes had strings and 24 were stringless. The
range for days to 50 % flowering was (32.00-70.00), days to maturity was (71.00-
125.00), plant height was (37.33-275.37), the number of pods per plant was (5.78-
31.12), pod length was (7.67-26.33), seeds per pod was (2.60-7.56), 100-seed weight
was (12.60-59.94) and seed yield per plant was (5.15-46.72). Higher PCV and
GCV values were recorded for plant height, pods/plant, seed yield per plant,
and 100-seed weight and low for days to flowering, days to maturity, and seeds
per pod. High heritability was recorded for all the traits ranging from 76.69 %
for seed yield per plant to 99.60 % for plant height. A significant positive
correlation of seed yield with number of pods per plant, 100-seed weight and
pod length and while as it was negatively correlated with days to maturity.
PCA concentrated the variability in the first four principal components
accounting for 78.40 % of total variation. The first two PC’s explained 51.00 %
of total variation mainly contributed by number of pods per plant, 100-seed
weight and plant height. Out of the ninety three accessions five accessions,
WB-1129, WB-206, WB-1006, SFB-1 and Arka Komal were easy to cook and had
better pod succulence.

Kew words: Common bean, Kashmir, landraces, GCV, PCV, cooking time score,
PCA

INTRODUCTION from chronically low yields, crop failures and, in the

Plant breeding, across crops and breeding
programmes, has been instrumental in creating a
broad spectrum of varieties that have served to enhance
the productivity and profitability, resilience to biotic
and abiotic stresses as well as quality of produce for
industrial use. Formal plant breeding has been
invariably beneficial to farmers who either enjoy
favorable environments, or could profitably modify
their environment to suit new cultivars. It has not
been so beneficial to those farmers who cannot afford
to modify their environment through the application
of additional inputs (Byerlee and Husain, 1993). Poor
farmers in marginal environments continue to suffer
worse situations, malnutrition and famine. Crop
genetic resources including the landraces and
traditional varieties have been foundation of all
breeding efforts and have provided requisite variation
to exercise selection. In some crops as well as certain
production systems, these are the major components
of farming systems. However, due to advent of high
yielding varieties, that are invariably better suited for
intensive agriculture, many of these landraces and
traditional varieties are diminishing at a faster pace,
leading to loss of valuable trait sources. In crops like
common bean, which in major cases is grown under
low input farming systems, such landraces are of
prime importance.
182 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020
Bean (including Common bean and French bean)
is one of the most important pulse crop known as “Poor
man’s Meat “ or “Grain of Hope”. Globally about 24
million tonnes are produced with yields of about 824
kg/ha. Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America
account for about half of the common bean production
followed by South and South-East Asia (35%). Global
exports of common bean stand at 4.23 million tonnes
(31%), only next to pea among pulses (Rawal and
Navarro, 2019). Bean is also regarded as a “nearly
perfect food” as it contains balanced mixture of
different nutrients that promote better health and fight
certain diseases. It has a rich nutritional profile with
about 22.8% proteins, 307 Kcal of energy, 1.6% of fat
and adequate dietary fibers (21.7%). It has very low
glycaemic index (24%) as compared to cereals and is
also rich in nutrients such as Iron (8.8 mg/100 g).
However, the global consumption (21 g/person/day)
is stagnant from last few decades (Rawal and Navarro,
2019). Similarly green bean is an important source of
carbohydrate (61.4%), proteins (17.5 - 28.5%) and
minerals (3.2 – 5.0%). It also contains Vitamin C and
pro Vitamin A. It has significant amount of fiber and
supplies minerals like Iron, Potassium, Phosphorus,
Magnesium, Copper etc. India ranks second after Brazil
in common bean production. In India it is grown over
an area of 1 M ha with a production of 0.4 MT and
productivity of 400 kg ha-1 (FAO, 2014).
In Jammu and Kashmir, bean (Phaseolus vulgaris
L.) known as Rajmash (dry bean) or Farash bean (Snap
beans) is the most important summer season pulse
crop of hilly areas of Jammu and entire Kashmir valley.
The crop is mainly consumed as dry (mature) beans,
shell beans (physiologically matured seeds) as well
as green pods. It is an indispensable component of the
diets as well as the farming system. It enjoys a niche
status among the crops on account of its being a cheap
source of protein, minerals and nutraceuticals. It is
also a substantial contributor to the income of the
subsistence farmers as it fetches better prices than
cereals. In northern India, rajmash is largely cultivated
in Chamba, Kinnaur, Rajouri, Bhaderwah, Kishtwar,
Uri, Kupwara, Shopian etc. There is great variation in
farmer’s preference for the growth habit, and seed
shape, colour and size. In Ropa Valley of Kinnaur, red
capsule types are more preferred, while as small seeded
red types are preferred in Salooni, Teesa, Kishtwar and
Bhaderwah and upper tracts of Uttarkashi and
Chamoli, yellow types are liked in Spiloo and Moorang
areas, small white seeded are preferred in Kalpa and
Rogi. In Chauhar valley in HP and Chadar and
Dharam valley in Uttarakhand, round mottled types
are preferred.
The stagnated yields and relegation to marginal
areas with low input support, common bean is losing
competitiveness and is increasingly getting out of
cultivation. The lack of high yielding varieties that
could fit in intensive farming system has resulted in
fast dwindling of area under common bean. Shere-e-
Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences &
Technology Kashmir (SKUAST-K) has released three
rajmash varieties (Shalimar Rajmash-1, Shalimar
Rajmash-2 and Shalimar French Bean-1) which also
has not been able to make an appreciable dent to
increase the yields, that continue to hover around 500-
600 kg/ha. The situation is further worsened by the
looming threats of climate change implications that
are becoming more than obvious now, in the form of
increasing frequency of droughts, extreme weather
events and crop failures.
There is an urgent need to identify common bean
varieties that combine productivity with resilience.
This requires in-depth characterization of natural
variation in available genetic diversity for productivity
and water stress adaptive traits. A total of 172
accessions of bean germplasm from Jammu & Kashmir
are conserved in National Gene bank, ICAR-NBPGR,
and New Delhi. (http://pgrportal.nbpgr.ernet.in/
(S(yrfgtxvdpw11vx55g02cji55))/default.aspx.) The
genetic diversity in common bean in Kashmir is largely
represented by local landraces that have adapted to
lower yields under low input farming system and the
modern varieties have found little favour and the
traditional landraces have persisted through times.
Farmers highly value their seeds, they are part of their
cultural heritage and they like to grow and “conserve”
local varieties as the way to keep traditions (Lhome,
2005). To make farming profitable, it is imperative to
use common bean germplasm in plant breeding to
provide high yielding and resilient varieties.
Common bean was introduced into Europe from
two independent domestication centers, viz., Andean
and Mesoamerican (Gepts and Debouck, 1991). The
landraces of common bean originated from these two
gene pools and were later disseminated into Europe.
Both the Andean and Mesoamerican landraces
arrived in Europe through Spain and Portugal (Gioia
et al., 2013). This was followed by several introductions
from various regions coupled with frequent exchanges
between European and Mediterranean countries (Papa
et al., 2006). The present common bean landrace
diversity in Asia, Africa and Europe resembles
Andean and Mesoamerican gene pools or intermediate
forms hybrids between these two gene pools (Chavez-
Servia et al., 2016). Substantial introgression of alleles
between the wild and domesticated gene pool has
 Sofi et al. : Bean landrace diversity in north-west Himalayas 183

increased the landrace diversity (Pathania et al., 2014).

In Jammu and Kashmir State, a large diversity of
bean landraces were grown (Figure 1), but over a period
of time, only a handful of diverse seed classes exist.
Landraces evolve under natural and farmer-driven
selection process and harbor useful genes and alleles
related to adaptability, fitness, resilience and quality.
These are locally adapted and also possess co-adapted
gene complexes with less linkage drag and as such
can be easily mainstreamed in breeding programmes
(Diwedi et al., 2016). In Latin America, landraces
account for about 70-90% of beans grown. In Kashmir
valley, the food value of common bean is largely
confined to local consumer preferences and as such,
traditional varieties and landraces offer great value to Fig 1: Collection sites of landraces used in present
plant breeders as they possess better adaptability and study
quality. This study was the first attempt towards
comprehensive characterization of local landraces of
common bean to identify lines that could be used in
future bean breeding programmes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Site of the experiment

The present study was conducted during 2018-
2020 at the research fields of Division of Genetics and
Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture Wadura,
SKUAST-K, Sopore (34o 172 North and 74o 332 E at an
altitude of 1594 msl) and Dry Land Agricultural
Research Station, Rangreth (330 - 98' North and 740 -
80' East at an altitude of 1617 msl). The soil of the
experimental site at Wadura is a typical inceptisol with
clay loam texture. The pH was almost neutral (7.2),
with organic carbon 0.65%, the electrical conductivity
of 0.18 dS/m and CEC of 16 meq/kg. At the Rangreth
site, the soil was silty clay with organic carbon of 0.56
and 5%, available P equal to 19.13 kg/ha, available K
equal to 275.23 kg/ha with a near neutral pH of 6.8.
All the accessions were grown as single rows of four-
meter length, with spacing of 15 cm x 40 cm.
Plant materials
A set of 93 accessions of beans including 88
landraces collected from different areas of the valley
and five released varieties viz., Shalimar Rajmash-1,
Shalimar French Bean-1 released by SKUAST-Kashmir,
while as Arka Anoop, Arka Komal and Arka Sharath
are released by ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru. The
geographical location of collection sites of the
accessions are given in Figure 1. The landraces
represented diverse market classes based on growth
habit, seed colur, shape and size. The major landrace
Fig 2: Major landrace classes of beans in Kashmir
Valley
classes cultivated in Kashmir valley are shown in
Figure 2.
Plant traits and data recording
The data were recorded for 16 traits that included
seven qualitative traits of economic importance
(growth habit, pod colour, pod stringiness, pod cross
sectional shape, seed colour, seed shape and seed
size) and 8 quantitative traits viz. days to flowering
(DF), days to maturity (DM), plant height (PH), pod
length (PL), pods per plant (PPP), seeds per pod (SPP),
100-seed weight (100SW) and seed yield per plant
(SYPP), measured on different scales from randomly
selected five plants of each accession. Observations
were recorded using minimal descriptors for common
bean characterization and evaluation available from
PPVFRA (Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers
Rights Authority, India).
184 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

Pod cooking quality colour (8) followed by pod colour (5), while as the
lowest number of classes was observed in case of
Bean cooking was done following method of
growth habit (2). In terms of pod quality traits, 69
Pevicharova et al. (2015). Relatively straight pod
genotypes had strings in pods and 24 were stringless.
samples were washed in tap water at room temperature
In terms of pod cross section, most of the genotypes
right after harvesting, cut into 3 cm long pieces, and
(56) had ovate shape followed by elliptical (17),
boiled for 30 min and then immediately cooled in 15oC
chordate (8), circle (6) and eight shaped (6).
water for 2 min. The sensory descriptors used for
Representative varability for various pod and seed
evaluating cooking quality are: 1 (Undercooked), 2
traits are presented in Figure 3.
(Slightly Undercooked), 3 (Average Cooked), 4
(Slightly Overcooked) and 5 (Overcooked).

Statistical analysis
The quantitative traits were analyzed for various
statistical parameters viz. mean, range, variances,
correlations, and principal component analysis (PCA).
Phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation (PCV
and GCV) for each trait were computed as PCV = ”VP/ Pod shape, size and color variation Pod succulence variation
mean × 100, GCV = ”V G / mean ×  100 as per
(Burton 1952). Heritability (broad sense) was estimated
as h2 (bs) =  VG / VP  ×  100 following Lush (1940). The
significance of variances was tested at the 5 %
probability level.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Variability for qualitative traits Variability in pod stringiness Seed colour, size and shape variation

There was a substantial variation among 93

accessions evaluated for all the traits. The pattern of
variation as depicted by the relative spread of
accessions among descriptor classes for various
qualitative parameters. In the present study, only
morphological traits of economic importance are
presented. Out of 93 accessions, 88 were landraces
and five (Shalimar Rajmash-1, Shalimar French Bean- Varability for seed number Seed coat mottling variation

1, Arka Anoop, Arka Komal and Arka Sharath) were
released varieties. Out of 93 accessions, 51 were bush
type and 42 were pole type with varying degree of
twinning. Pods were predominantly green (79),
followed by purple (4), red (2), golden (2) and others
(6). Seed colour was predominantly red (53) followed
by chocolate and brown (10 each), yellow (8), while as
two each were pink, purple, green, black and white
with varying degrees of mottling of seed coat. In terms
of seed size, 18 accessions were small seeded (< 25 g),
59 were medium seeded (25-40 g) and 16 were large
seeded (> 40 g). The particular frequency distribution
of seed colour and size is due the fact that small to
medium seeded red rajmash types are preferred by
farmers and consumers in Kashmir valley. Out of 93
accessions, 38 had cuboidal seed, 28 were kidney
shaped, 10 were oval, 8 were cylindrical, whereas rest
had other shapes. Among the recorded traits highest
number of classes was observed in case of seed coat
Fig 3: Pattern of variation for various pod and seed
traits in common bean landraces
In the present study we made an attempt to
characterize the common bean landraces collected
from various areas of Kashmir valley. The landraces
exhibited substantial genetic variability for seven
qualitative traits among 93 accessions. The
distribution of accessions among descriptor classes
indicated the presence of adequate variability for pod
and seed traits in common bean (colour, shape and
size), which are most important determinants of
commercial acceptability of varieties (Rana et al., 2015).
In Kashmir valley, mostly small seeded red common
bean (locally called as rajmash) is preferred for human
consumption and fetches premium price, while as
other seed colour classes are less important with varied
scale of human consumption in hilly areas. In an
 Sofi et al. : Bean landrace diversity in north-west Himalayas
earlier study, Choudhary et al., (2017) also found
predominance of red colored beans in the landrace
diversity of Kashmir. They also used phaseolin
patterns within 54 local landraces and reported that
22 possess S-type and 32 possess T-type phaseolins.
The prominence of T-type (Andean) phaseolin in local
landraces from Jammu and Kashmir is in agreement
with earlier published reports that have reported
predominance of Andean type phaseolin global bean
landrace diversity (Santalla et al., 2002, Madakbas et
al., 2014). Pod succulence and stringiness are important
determinants of snap bean types that are mostly grown
in kitchen gardens as well as on commercial vegetable
farms. Fortunately, for plant breeders, seed traits have
also been reported to be highly heritable traits
(Nienhuis and Singh, 1988, Sofi et al., 2014, Langat et
al., 2019). In the present study, we also observed high
heritability estimates for seed traits ranging from
76.69% for seeds per pod to as high as 98.36% for 100-
seed weight. Since common bean pods are a favorite
vegetable in Kashmir and as such, pod traits also
assume importance in varietal development. The
heritability estimates were also high for pod number
and pod length. This coupled with their positive
correlation with yield makes them potential target
traits for improving seed yield. In the present study,
we found large variations in seed colour (black, red,
white, brown, chocolate, pink and purple) with
variable size and coat mottling pattern (Figure 3).
Substantial variation has also been recorded in
common bean collections by Sofi et al., (2014a) and
Rana et al., (2015). In most of the accessions, growth
habit was indeterminate. This could be due to the
ecological adaptation as well as to the cropping system
being followed as suggested by Rana et al., (2015). The
predominant cropping system of common bean in
Kashmir is intercropping with diverse crops such as
maize especially in hilly areas of the valley.
Mean, range, variance, coefficient of variance and
heritability
The trait histograms and descriptive statistical
analysis of variability parameters such as mean, range,
Table 1: Variability parameters for 8 quantitative traits in 93 common bean accessions
Trait Mean Range
DF 45.28 + 0.72 32.00-70.00
DM 87.54 + 0.95 71.00-125.00
PH 110.62 + 7.51 37.33-275.37
NPP 14.60 + 0.52 5.78-31.12
PL 11.56 + 0.25 7.67-26.33
SPP 4.67 + 0.09 2.60-7.56
100SW 31.51 + 0.88 12.60-59.94
SYPP 19.18 + 0.81 5.15-46/72
185
Vb, Vp, GCV and PCV of 8 quantitative indicated
substantial variability among the accessions (Figure
4, Table 1). The mean and range of days to 50 %
flowering was 45.28 (32.00-70.00), days to maturity
was 87.54 (71.00-125.00), plant height was 110.62 cm
(37.33-275.37), pods per plant was 14.60 (5.78-31.12),
pod length was 11.56 cm (7.67-26.33), seeds per pod
was 4.67 (2.60-7.56), 100-seed weight was 31.51 g
(12.60-59.94) and seed yield per plant was 19.18 g
(5.15-46.72). Higher PCV and GCV values were
recorded for plant height, pods/plant, seed yield per
plant, and 100-seed weight and low for days to
flowering, days to maturity, and seeds per pod. High
heritability was recorded for all the traits ranging from
76.69 % for seed yield per plant to 99.60 % for plant
height.
The difference between the GCV and the PCV
values was smaller, with GCV invariably smaller than
PCV indicating that the observed variation and
expression of traits is mainly due to genetic factors
while larger difference indicate the role of the
environment. However, these variability parameters
have to be considered along with the heritability
estimates as well as strength and direction of linear
correlation of these traits with seed yield. In our present
study, pod length, seed yield per plant, 100-seed
weight and green biomass per plant showed high level
of variance coupled with high heritability. This
suggests that these traits may be governed by additive
genes and use of simple selection methods may bring
significant improvement for these traits. The landraces
WB-222, WB-864, WB-100, WB-923, WB-651, WB-195
and SFB-1 recorded higher values of these traits.
The variation in quantitative characters is often
influenced by variation in other characters which may
be due to pleiotrophy or genetic linkage, therefore the
knowledge about trait associations especially between
the target trait to be improved and its potential
contributing traits is imperative to identify key
characters for selection for grain yield as direct selection
for a complex trait like yield, is invariably less
rewarding. Seed yield had a significant and positive
correlation with pods per plant, 100-seed weight, and
GCV PCV h2(bs) Genetic advance as % of mean
8.07 8.83 83.35 15.17
9.96 10.76 85.62 18.98
71.56 71.70 99.60 147.12
47.72 50.51 89.27 45.08
20.03 22.39 79.99 36.90
13.66 15.50 77.67 24.80
32.78 33.06 98.36 66.98
42.26 48.26 76.69 76.24
186 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

Fig 4: Histograms depicting pattern of variation for eight quantitative traits in common bean landraces
 Sofi et al. : Bean landrace diversity in north-west Himalayas
pod length and 100-seed weight. This indicates that
selection for any of these traits may favor improvement
in other seed yield and green biomass yield. Similar
results have also been reported in Indian common bean
collection by Rana et al., (2015). These results imply
that pods per plant, seeds per pod, 100-seed weight
and pod length should be given high priority during
selection for grain yield in common bean.
Trait Correlation
The correlation matrix (Table 2) showed
significant positive correlation (p<0.05) of seed yield
per plant with number of pods per plant (r = 0.735),
100-seed weight (0.289), pod length (r= 0.269) and
seeds per pod (r=0.208). Among other notable trait
correlations of breeding importance were observed
between 100-seed weight and seeds per pod (-0.326)
and days to maturity (r= -0.263), days to maturity and
days to flowering (r= 0.513), seeds per pod and pod
length (0.247) and plant height and days to maturity
and days to flowering (0.376 and 0.256 respectively).
The variation in quantitative characters is often
influenced by variation in other characters which may
be due to pleiotrophy or genetic linkage, therefore the
knowledge about trait associations especially between
the target trait to be improved and its potential
contributing traits is imperative to identify key
characters for selection for grain yield as direct selection
for a complex trait like yield, is invariably less
rewarding. Seed yield had a significant and positive
correlation with pods per plant and pod length and
100-seed weight. This indicates that selection for any
of these traits may favor improvement in other seed
yield and green biomass yield. Similar results have
also been reported in Indian common bean collection
by Rana et al., (2015). These results imply that pods
per pod, seeds per pod, 100-seed weight and pod
length should be given high priority during selection
for grain yield in common bean.
Principal component analysis
Based on the principal component analysis done
Table 2: Correlation coefficient of eight quantitative traits for 93 common bean accessions
Trait DF DM PH
DF - 0.513** 0.256*
DM - 0.376**
PH - 0.020
NPP
PL
SPP
100SW
SYPP
187
for 8 traits, the variability was concentrated in first
four principal components. We used the criterion of
cumulative variance (70-80%) and the total variance
explained with the first four PC’s was 78.40%. Latent
roots (Eigen values) for significant PCs ranged from
2.51 (PC1) to 0.94 (PC4). The first two PC’s that were
used for constructing PCA biplot (Figure 4) graph
explained 51.00% of total variation mainly contributed
by number of days to flowering and days to maturity
in PC1 and number of pods per plant, seed yield per
plant, 100-seed weight and plant height in PC2. Thus
PC can be designated as component of maturity and
PC2 can be designated as component of productivity.
In the present study, 31.30 % of the total variation
was accounted for by PC1, mainly contributed by days
to flowering, plant height and days to maturity,
whereas the factor loadings of yield contributing traits
were negative. PC2 accounted for 19.70% variation,
mainly contributed by number of pods per plant, seed
yield per plant, 100-seed weight and pod length.
The factor loadings (component loadings) in PCA are
the correlation coefficients between the variables
and PC’s. The genotype-trait biplot indicated various
trait correlations based on the proximity and angle of
two vectors (Yan and Rajcan, 2002). In a PCA biplot,
close alignment of trait rays forming a small acute angle
corresponds to strong positive correlation. In the
present study, based on the factor loading graph, pods
per plant, 100-seed weight, pod length and seeds per
pod are strongly positively correlated with seed yield
per plant. Similarly, if the rays diverge and form a large
angle (close to 180°), they are negatively correlated such
as in case of days to maturity with pod length. The
Genotype-trait graphs derived from PCA biplot
enables the comparison of accessions on the basis of
the multiple measured variables. The GT biplot can
thus be effectively used as independent selection
criteria based on multiple traits including yield for
grain yield evaluation trials (Yan and Rajcan, 2002).
Sofi et al., (2014b) evaluated a set of 300 common bean
accessions and found for PC1 contained traits related
to maturity while as PC2 contained traits related to
productivity such as pods per plant, pod length as
NPP PL SPP 100SW SYPP
-0.087 -0.120 -0.179 -0.064 -0.106
-0.131 -0.288* -0.228* -0.263* -0.233*
-0.359* -0.264* -0.098 -0.182
- 0.174 0.038 0.168 0.735**
- 0.247 0.112 0.269*
- -0.326 0.208*
- 0.289*
-
188 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

Table 3: Eigen values and variation accounted by first

four principal components
Principal component
Eigen value
Percent variation accounted
Cumulative variation accounted
PC1 PC2 PC3 PC4
2.506 1.577 1.251 0.938
31.30 19.70 15.60 11.70
31.30 50.90 66.70 78.40

Table 4: Component scores (Trait contributions to

Principal components)
Variable PC 1 PC 2 PC 3 PC 4
DF 0.332 0.277 0.273 -0.594
DM 0.448 0.206 0.324 -0.211
PH 0.363 0.327 0.110 0.391
NOP -0.341 0.519 0.305 0.212
PL -0.370 -0.112 0.102 -0.591
SPP -0.255 -0.398 0.534 0.080
100SW -0.209 0.390 -0.587 -0.217
SYPP -0.441 0.426 0.273 0.048 Fig 6: Procedure for pod cooking quality

well as seed yield per plant. Rana et al., (2015) have

also reported similar results in 4274 accessions
preserved in Indian bean bank (NBPGR) with three
PC’s accounting for about 80% of variation largely
contributed by pods per plant, 100-seed weight, pod
length and seed yield. They also reported that variation
accounted by PC2 was largely on account of pods per
plant and seeds per pod. Panchbhaiya et al., (2017)
also reported similar results in French bean with six
PC’s accounting for about 79 per cent of variation days
to flowering, days to maturity and seed yield as
important contributors also reported that in a French
bean collection that based on overall trait contribution
to PC1 and PC2 pods per plant and seed yield per
plant were important contributors to variability and
also were significantly correlated with each other.
Pod cooking quality
For cooking time score, based on the scale used,
21 genotypes (22.58%) were over cooked, 23 genotypes
(24.73%) were slightly over cooked, 19 (20.43%) were
average cooked, 22 (23.65%) slightly under cooked,
and 8 (8.60%) were under cooked. Among the
accessions evaluated, WB-1129, WB-206, WB-1006,
SFB-1, WB-249 and Arka Komal were over cooked,
where as genotypes such as SR-1 were relatively hard
to cook.
In terms of pod cooking quality WB-1129, WB-
206, WB-1006, SFB-1, WB-249 and Arka Komal were
found to be very easy to cook. Invariably, all the
accessions that had succulent pods were relatively
easy to cook. This trait is important in view of the fact
that energy is a major issue. The “hard to cook” defect
in both pods and seeds is a major consumer
acceptability consideration (Muyonga et al., 2008),
especially a concern among urban consumers due to
the time invested in cooking and the high cost of fuel
energy (Cichy et al., 2012). In rural areas, firewood and
charcoal form cheaper alternatives, but it has a higher
environmental cost (Maryanna et al., 2010). In fact traits
related to cooking and organolaptic quality also
determine the niche value of crops like common bean
and shape its persistence as an important component
of farming systems despite the crop having become
less competitive due to relegation to low input farming
systems (Saba et al., 2016) . Superior cooking and
organoleptic characteristics of some traditional
common bean landraces have been pointed to as the
reason for their persistence in cultivation, despite the
advance of new commercial cultivars.

CONCLUSION
Crop genetic resources provide foundations of
Fig. 5: Genotype-trait biplot for 8 quantitative traits in human civilizations and are indispensable for
common bean continued existence of human race (Ryos, 2015). They
 Sofi et al. : Bean landrace diversity in north-west Himalayas
satiate human hunger as well as provide livelihood
and represent cultural identities. Kashmir Himalayas
are rich in crop genetic resources (Salgotra and Gupta,
2015). There is a vast diversity of common bean
landraces in Jammu and Kashmir that has evolved as
a result of differential adaptive evolutionary process
during last several hundred years after its introduction
by perhaps some travelers from Portugal, England,
Holland, France who travelled to the Indian
subcontinent for trading in early part of the 16th century
via Red and Arabian Sea; and Chinese through
Hindustan Silk Route must have brought different
colored and easily transportable beans with them
(Rana et al., 2015, Choudhary et al., 2017).
Common bean yields have been low and till date
no competitive varieties have been developed that
could favorably accommodate common bean in
mainstream cropping systems and crop continues to
grow under low input farming systems. The continued
onslaught of weather extremes such as floods of 2014
and severe drought in 2020 in valley has reinforced
the obviousness of climate change and need to collect,
conserve and utilise precious genetic resources of niche
crops like common bean. Kashmir valley has
tremendous diversity of common bean landraces
differing in seed physical traits and can be potential
sources of beneficial and novel traits related to
adaptability, quality and resilience. Landraces are also
recognized as sources of economic traits, thus there is
a need to conserve and characterize the available
landrace diversity and identify promising germplasm
for use in breeding programme.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors acknowledge the financial support
provided by SKUAST-Kashmir and AICRP MULLaRP.
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 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3): 191-194, 2020

Weed management in blackgram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper] during wet

season in North Central Plateau Zone of Odisha
TUSHAR RANJAN MOHANTY1*, POLY SAHA2, KISHORE CHANDRA SAHOO1,
SUKUMAR TUDU1, MONIKA RAY1, SRIMANTA KUMAR SAHOO1, SUJATA DAS and
NITYAMANJARI MISHRA1

1
Regional Research and Technology
Transfer Station (OUAT), Keonjhar,
Odisha-758002
2
Department of Plant Pathology, College
of Agriculture, Burdwan, BCKV, West
Bengal-713101
*E-mail: tusharranjan70@gmail.com
Received: September 7, 2020
Accepted: November 9, 2020
Handling Editor:
Dr. Narendra Kumar, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur
ABSTRACT
A field study was conducted at Regional Research and Technology Transfer
Station, Keonjhar, Odisha during kharif seasons of 2013 and 2014 to evaluate
the performance of different weed management practices involving pre- and
post-emergence herbicides in blackgram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper]. Among
all the weed management practices, pre-emergence application of pre-mix
combination of pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha followed
by one manual weeding at 35 days after sowing (DAS) produced the maximum
weed control efficiency, yield attributes and seed yield and it was comparable
to two hand weedings at 20 and 35 DAS in both the years (2013 and 2014) of
study. Among herbicidal treatments, the lowest weed dry matter, highest weed
control efficiency (WCE), yield attributes and seed yield was recorded with
pre-emergence application of pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75
kg/ha fb quizalofop ethyl 50 g/ha at 20 DAS which was statistically at par with
pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb manual weeding and
two manual weedings at 20 and 35DAS in the year 2014. The yield increment by
application of pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb manual
weeding was to the tune of 109 and 102 % in 2013 and 2014 respectively, over
weedy check. This treatment also produced highest number of pods/ plant (32.7
and 22.6 in 2013 and 2014 respectively) and seeds/ pod (6.9 and 6.3 in 2013 and
2014 respectively). This treatment also recorded the maximum gross return (
37,672/ha), net return ( 17,049/ha) and return/rupee invested (1.83).

Key words: Blackgram, Herbicide, Weed management, Weed control efficiency,

Yield

Blackgram is an important pulse crop grown
worldwide for grains, green manuring, fodder and
forage. It is cultivated either as sole or inter crop and
fits well in cropping systems. Blackgram is invaluable
in crop rotation as it helps improve soil fertility and
provides sustainability to agricultural production
system. As it has potential of utilizing limited soil
moisture and nutrients, farmers grow this crop under
adverse conditions also. Blackgram is rich in protein,
carbohydrate, fats, vitamins and amino acids which
are essential for human as well as for making animal
feeds (Indira and Kurup, 2013).
India is the major producer as well as consumer
of blackgram. The crop occupies about 4.83 million ha
in the country producing 3.36 million tonnes (IIPR,
2018-19). However, it is less competitive against many
weeds during early stage of crop (Choudhary et al.
2012) and the most sensitive period with respect to
weed competition is between 15 to 45 days after
sowing. Yield reduction to the extent of 50 - 60% has
been recorded due to uncontrolled weeds in blackgram
(Yadav, 1992). Various methods of weed control such
as mechanical, biological, cultural and chemical are
used for controlling weeds. However, chemical method
of weed control is becoming popular among farmers
due to non-availability of labour in peak growing
season and difficulty in carrying out weeding operation
due to continuous rainfall in wet season (Shewta and
Singh, 2005). As application of single herbicide may
not be effective in providing broad spectrum weed
control, combination of pre- and post- emergence
herbicides in sequence or integrated with manual
weeding may provide good control of grassy as well
as broadleaf weeds. Keeping the above points into
consideration, the present investigation was carried
out to evaluate the performance of different weed
control methods in preventing yield loss in blackgram
due to weeds during wet season.
192 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The experiment was conducted at the research
farm of Regional Research and Technology Transfer
Station, Keonjhar, under North Central Plateau Zone
of Odisha under AICRP on MULLaRP during wet
seasons of 2013 and 2014. The soil of the experimental
site was low in organic carbon (0.44%), slightly acidic
in reaction (pH 6.6), low in available nitrogen (191
kg/ha), medium in available P (22.4 kg/ha) and
medium in available K (221 kg/ha) with electrical
conductivity of 0.313 dS/m. Nine treatments with
different combinations of herbicides along with check
and hand weeding were tested in randomized block
design (RBD) with three replications. The details of
the treatments are as follows: T1 - Pendimethalin 1.0
kg/ha – pre emergence (PE); T2 – Pendimethalin 30 EC
+ Imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha - PE; T 3 -
Pendimethalin 1.0 kg/ha fb Quizalofop ethyl 50 g/
ha; T4 – Pendimethalin 30 EC + Imazethapyr 2 EC @
0.75 kg/ha fb Quizalofop ethyl 50 g/ha – post
emergence (PoE) at 20 DAS; T5 - Pendimethalin 1.0
kg/ha + Imazethapyr 40 g/ha - PoE at 20 DAS; T6 -
Pendimethalin 1.0 kg/ha fb Manual weeding at 35
DAS; T7 – Pendimethalin 30 EC + Imazethapyr 2 EC @
0.75 kg/ha fb Manual weeding at 35 DAS; T8 - Two
manual weeding at 20 & 35 DAS and T9 - Weedy check.
Blackgram variety Prasad (B3-8-8) was sown on July
15, 2013 and August 01, 2014 with a row spacing 30
cm, using 20 kg seeds/ ha and adopting recommended
package of practices. The blackgram crop received a
rainfall of 705.1 and 797.9 mm of rainfall with 42 and
36 number of rainy days in 2103 and 2014,
respectively. The mean maximum and minimum
temperatures were 29.9 and 21.8 °C in 2013 and 30.8
and 19.8 °C in 2014, respectively. All the plots received
uniform basal dose of 20 kg N, 40 kg P2O5 and 20 kg
K2O/ha. Pre-emergence application of pendimethalin
and pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75
kg/ha was done on next day of sowing and post-
emergence herbicides such as quizalofop ethyl and
imazethapyr were applied 20 DAS by using a
knapsack sprayer fitted with flat-fan nozzle with 500
litres of water volume per hactare. Weed data were
collected by placing a quadrat of 50 x 50 cm at five
places in each plot for computing weed dry matter at
60 DAS. The data on number of pods per plant, number
of seeds per pod, 100- seed weight (g) were taken from
the 5 tagged plants from each plot. The blackgram crop
was harvested at maturity plot-wise and seed yield
was recorded after reducing the moisture content to
8% through sun drying. The net return (gross return –
cost of cultivation) and return/rupee invested (gross
return/ cost of cultivation) was calculated on the basis
of prevailing market price of different inputs and
outputs.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Effect on weeds
The prominent weed flora observed in the
experimental field was Cynodon dactylon, Cyperus
rotundus, Dactyloctenium aegyptium and Cleome viscosa.
All the weed control treatments were superior to weedy
check in controlling the weeds in both the years (Table-
1). Application of pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr
2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha - PE fb Manual weeding 35 DAS
resulted in the lowest weed dry matter of 14.9 and 10.3
g/m2 in the years 2013 and 2014, respectively. This
was at par with two manual weedings at 20 and 35
DAS which recorded dry matter of 18.0 and 10.6 g/m2
in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Weedy check plots
recorded the highest weed dry matter of 43.4 and 42.0
g/m2 in 2013 and 2014, respectively, which indicates
the need for taking up weed control measures. The
better performance of pendimethalin 30 EC +
imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb manual weeding

Table 1. Effect of weed management practices on dry weight of weeds and weed control efficiency at 60 DAS
Treatments Weed dry matter at 60 DAS (g/m2) Weed Control Efficiency (%)
2013 2014 2013 2014
Pendimethalin 30 EC 1.0 kg/ha - PE 38.5 26.7 11.1 35.2
Pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha - PE 24.9 24.2 12.4 42.1
Pendimethalin 1.0 kg/ha fb Quizalofop ethyl 50 g/ha at 20 DAS 27.7 21.1 35.0 48.3
Pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb Quizalofop 20.4 12.4 52.8 70.2
ethyl 50 g/ha at 20 DAS
Pendimethalin 30 EC 1.0 kg/ha fb Imazethapyr 40 g/ha at 20 DAS 24.4 19.3 43.0 52.8
Pendimethalin 30 EC 1.0 kg/ha fb Manual weeding at 35 DAS 26.1 13.0 39.5 68.1
Pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb Manual 14.9 10.3 65.6 75.3
weeding at 35 DAS
Two manual weedings at 20 & 35 DAS 18.0 10.6 58.4 74.3
Weedy check 43.4 42.0 0 0
SEm(±) 1.6 2.0 3.4 4.1
CD (p = 0.05) 4.9 6.1 10.2 12.2
 Mohanty et al. : Weed management in blackgram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper] during wet season in North Central 193
Plateau Zone of Odisha

could be due to effective suppression of grassy weeds
at early growth stage and grassy and broad leaf weeds
later. It is because pendimethalin controls most of the
annual grasses and manual weeding at 35 DAS
controls both grassy as well as broad leaf weeds.
Application of pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2
EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb quizalofop ethyl also reduced the
weed dry matter significantly to a level of 12.4 g/ m2 in
2014 which was at par with the above treatments.
Among various treatments the highest weed control
efficiency (WCE) of 65.6 and 75.3 % in 2013 and 2014
respectively, was obtained with application of
pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/
ha followed by two hand weedings (Table-1). Similar
findings of higher weed control efficiency with two
hand weedings have been reported by Singh and
Chandel (1995). This might be due to less dry matter
accumulation as a result of effective suppression of
grassy as well as broadleaf weeds by the treatment.
Rao et al. (2010) also reported similar reduction in weed
biomass by application of pendimethalin +
imazethapyr combination. Among the herbicidal
treatments alone, application of pendimethalin 30 EC
+ imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb quizalofop ethyl,
being at par with above two treatments recorded
significant weed control efficiency of 70.2 % in 2014.
Application of pendimethalin alone recorded the
lowest weed control efficiency of 11.1 and 35.2% in
2013 and 2014, respectively. It indicates the inefficiency
of single application of pendimethalin to control
weeds beyond 20 DAS.
Effect on yield attributes and yield
Different weed management practices had
significant effect on yield attributes and yield of
blackgram (Table-2). Among the weed control
treatments involving herbicides alone, the highest
values for number of pods / plant (32.7 and 22.6),
seeds/ pod (6.9 and 6.3) and 100 seeds weight (4.2) in
2013 and 2014 respectively were recorded under
application of pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2
EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb quizalofop ethyl. Further, the
highest seed yield in both the years (873 and 859 kg/
ha in 2013 and 2014, respectively) was recorded with
the application of pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr
2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha -PE fb manual weeding which was
comparable to two manual weedings at 20 & 35 DAS
and application of pendimethalin 30 EC +
imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb quizalofop ethyl,
but significantly superior to all other treatments. Singh

Table 2. Effect of weed management practices on yield and yield attributes of blackgram
Treatments No. of No. of seeds/ 100 seed weight Seed yield
pods/plant pod (g) (kg/ha)
2013 2014 2013 2014 2013 2014 2013 2014
Pendimethalin 30 EC 1.0 kg/ha - PE 26.3 16.9 5.4 5.2 4.0 4.0 603 505
Pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha - PE 26.7 19.9 6.0 5.5 4.0 4.0 731 550
Pendimethalin 1.0 kg/ha fb Quizalofop ethyl 50 g/ha at 20 DAS 25.7 20.2 5.5 5.6 4.0 3.5 624 690
Pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb 30.7 21.8 6.2 5.9 4.0 3.8 815 736
Quizalofop ethyl 50 g/ha at 20 DAS
Pendimethalin 30 EC 1.0 kg/ha fb Imazethapyr 40 g/ha at 20 DAS 27.0 19.6 5.8 5.7 4.0 3.8 771 558
Pendimethalin 30 EC 1.0 kg/ha fb Manual weeding at 35 DAS 27.3 18.6 5.8 5.6 4.0 3.8 713 567
Pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb Manual 32.7 22.6 6.9 6.3 4.2 4.2 873 859
weeding at 35 DAS
Two manual weedings at 20 & 35 DAS 31.0 21.8 6.5 6.2 4.1 4.1 839 745
Weedy check 17.3 16.3 5.1 5.0 4.0 3.5 417 425
SEm(±) 1.5 1.3 0.3 0.26 0.04 0.2 44 56
CD (p = 0.05) 4.5 4.0 0.8 0.78 0.12 0.6 132 167

Table 3. Effect of weed management practices on economics of blackgram (Mean of two years data)
Treatments Gross return (₹/ha) Net return (₹/ha.) Return/rupee invested
Pendimethalin 30 EC 1.0 kg/ha - PE 24100 5787 1.32
Pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha - PE 27862 8499 1.44
Pendimethalin 1.0 kg/ha fb Quizalofop ethyl 50 g/ha at 20 DAS 28580 9267 1.48
Pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb Quizalofop ethyl 50 33735 13372 1.66
g/ha at 20 DAS
Pendimethalin 30 EC 1.0 kg/ha fb Imazethapyr 40 g/ha at 20 DAS 28906 10033 1.54
Pendimethalin 30 EC 1.0 kg/ha fb Manual weeding at 35 DAS 27841 8268 1.42
Pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb Manual weeding at 37672 17049 1.83
35 DAS
Two manual weedings at 20 & 35 DAS 34453 15109 1.79
Weedy check 18314 1490 1.09
194 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020
et al. (2018) also recorded higher seed yield with
application of pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2
EC (pre-mix) in blackgram. The yield increment by
application of pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2
EC @ 0.75 kg/ha - PE fb manual weeding was to the
tune of 109 and 102 % in 2013 and 2014 respectively,
over weedy check. Similar findings of significant yield
reduction in unweeded plots were reported by
Bhowmick et al. (2015), Teja et al. (2017) and Aggarwal
et al. (2014). Significant increase in seed yield with
application of quizalofop ethyl 50 g/ha have also been
reported by Mundra and Maliwal (2012). This is due
to effective control of weeds throughout the crop
growth period by the above treatments.
Economics
The study on economics showed that application
of pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75
kg/ha fb one manual weeding at 35 DAS recorded the
maximum gross return ( 37,672/ha), net return
( 17,049/ha) and return/rupee invested (1.83) (Table
3). Among the herbicidal treatments alone, application
of pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75
kg/ha fb quizalofop ethyl was the best treatment with
respect to above economic parameters.
Pre-emergence application of pendimethalin 30
EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb one manual
weeding at 35 DAS or application of pendimethalin
30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb quizalofop
ethyl are good options for effective control of weeds in
blackgram during wet season in North Central Plateau
Zone of Odisha.
REFERENCES
Aggarwal N, Singh G, Ram H and Khanna, V. 2014. Effect
of post-emergence application of imazethapyr on
symbiotic activities, growth and yield of blackgram
(Vigna mungo) cultivarsand its efficacy against weeds.
Indian Journal of Agronomy 59: 421-426.
Bhowmick MK, Duary B and Biswas PK. 2015. Integrated
weed management in blackgram. Indian Journal of
Weed Science 47(1): 34-37
Choudhary VK, Kumar SP and Bhagawati R. 2012.
Integrated weed management in blackgram (vigna
mungo) under mid hills of Arunachal Pradesh. Indian
Journal of Agronomy 57: 382-385.
IIPR. 2018-19. Project Coordinator’s Report pp. 1.
Indira M and Kurup PA. 2013. Blackgram: A hypolipidemic
pulse. Natural Product Radiance 2(5): 240-242.
Mundra SL and Maliwal PL. 2012. Influence of quizalofop
ethyl on narrow leaved weeds in blackgram and its
residual effect on succeeding crops. Indian Journal of
Weed Science 44 (4): 231-234.
Rao AS, Subba Rao G, and Ratnam M. 2010. Bio-efficacy of
sand mix application of pre-emergence herbicides
alone and in sequence with imazethapyr on weed
control in relay crop of blackgram. Pakistan Journal
of Weed Science and Research 16 (3): 279-285.
Shewta and Singh VK. 2005. Integrated weed management
in urdbean during kharif season. Indian Journal of Weed
Science 37 (1 & 2): 121-122.
Singh M and Chandel AS. 1995. Effect of weed control
methods on Soyabean (Glysine max). Indian Journal of
Agronomy 40: 55-58.
Singh G, Virk HK and Khanna V. 2018. Weed management
in blackgram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper] through sole
and combined application of pre- and post-emergence
herbicides. Journal of Crop and Weed 14(2): 162-167.
Teja K. Charan, Duary B, Mandal Subrata, Dash Subhaprada,
Mallick RB and Sudheer Kumar M. 2017. Economic
Environment & Conservation 23 (2): 1032-1036.
Yadav DS. 1992. Pulse Crops, 1st Ed. Kalyani Publishers,
New Delhi, 159 pp.
 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3): 195-200, 2020

Effect of male sterility inducing cytoplasm on grain yield and component

traits in pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.)
ONKARAPPA, T, HANUMARADDI, GS and SOWMYA, HH

GKVK, University of Agricultural
Sciences, Bengaluru
*E-mail: onkarappa.t@gmail.com
Received: September 8, 2020
Accepted: November 20, 2020
Handling Editor:
Dr. Jitendra Kumar, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur
ABSTRACT
The effect of cytoplasm on the performance of 30 hybrids (15 A×R and their
corresponding 15 B×R hybrids) and 11 parents (three CMS lines and
corresponding maintainer lines) along with standard check variety BRG 5 was
investigated for grain yield and its component traits. These iso-nuclear
alloplasmic hybrids were observed for quantitative traits viz., days to 50 per
cent flowering, days to maturity, plant height, primary branches plant -1,
secondary branches plant-1, pods plant-1, seeds pod-1, 100 seed weight and grain
yield plant-1. Significant variation was observed within the A×R and B×R group
of hybrids for all the traits. But, differences between A×R and B×R group of
hybrids were not significant for any trait indicating poor influence of male
sterility inducing cytoplasm. However, significant differences observed among
A×R and B×R hybrids for mean performance might be attributed to cytoplasm
× nuclear interactions. The differences varied in their direction and magnitude
without showing a definite pattern in favour of a particular cytoplasm. However,
the differences so detected varied with the trait and nuclear genetic background.

Key words: CMS, Pigeonpea, Yield

INTRODUCTION for CMS is the extra-nuclear genome (mitochondria or

Pigeonpea or red gram [Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.]
belongs to the family Fabaceae. It is also called as tur,
an important pulse crop of India. It is a protein (22%)
rich stable food (Nicolas et al., 2020). It has been
recognized as a good source of vegetarian protein
particularly in south Asia (Duhan et al., 2001).
It is one of the most important pulse crops of India
and ranks second next to chickpea (Cicer arietinum) in
area and production (Srivastava et. al., 2008). In India,
this crop occupies 5.32 million hectares with total
production of 4.78 million tonnes, where as in the
world, it occupies 6.21 million hectares with total
production of 5.82 million tonnes with a productivity
of 898 and 904 kg/ha, respectively (FAO STAT 2017).
The concept of hybrid technology in pigeonpea
was developed at ICRISAT in 1974, when stable
genetic male sterile source was identified. As
consequence the first genetic male sterility based (GMS)
hybrid ICPH 8 was released in 1991 in India (Saxena
et al., 1992). The hybrid could not be commercialized
due to difficulties in maintaining its seed quality and
high cost. In order to overcome these constraints, an
improved hybrid production technology based on
more efficient and stable cytoplasmic male sterility
(CMS) system was identified. In this case, the reason
chloroplast). Revelation of male sterility in CMS may
be controlled either entirely by cytoplasmic factors or
by interactions between cytoplasmic factors and
nuclear factors.
Apart from male sterility, cytoplasmic genes show
influence on agronomic traits as reported in rice
(Young and Virmani, 1990; Rosamma and
Vijayakumar, 2007), chilli (Neelavva, 2012; Haritha,
2011), sorghum (Aruna et al., 2013; Sanjana et al., 2011;
Reddy et al., 2009) and pearl millet (Chandrashekar et
al., 2007; Yadav, 1999). Further, influence of cytoplasm
on response to insects and diseases has been reported
in pearl millet (Kumar et al., 2010; Reddy et al., 2007).
In pigeonpea cytoplasmic male sterile (A) lines,
sterility maintainer (B) lines and fertility restorer (R)
lines are used for hybrid seed production. Elite
Maintainer (B) lines, which maintain sterility are
backcrossed to sterile cytoplasm source for sufficient
generations to obtain CMS A lines. Hence, CMS A lines
and maintainer lines share same nuclear genes but
differ for their cytoplasmic genes. Further, CMS (A)
lines are maintained by crossing with maintainer lines
(B) and are crossed with restorer lines for hybrid seed
production. Since, the maintainer lines are used for
the development and further maintenance of
196 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

corresponding CMS lines in pigeonpea breeding, the
possible influence of cytoplasm on the key traits must
be studied. Present investigation was carried out, with
the objective of determining the effect of cytoplasm on
per se performance without evaluating reciprocal
crosses but comparing alloplasmic iso-nuclear
hybrids.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The material for the study comprised of three
CMS lines viz., BRG 1A, Hy3CA and BRG 3A, their
corresponding maintainer lines and five testers (BDN
2, WRP 1, GRG 2013, BRGL 13-8 and ICP 8863). The
Three CMS lines (A-lines) were hand-pollinated using
pollen collected from the five testers to produce 15 A×R
crosses. The maintainer counterpart of A-lines were
hand emasculated and pollinated using the pollen
collected from the same five testers to produce 15 B×R
crosses during kharif 2017. A total of 30 hybrids (15
A×R and 15 B×R) were evaluated along with check
(BRG 5) and parents in randomized block design with
two replications at Zonal Agricultural Research
Station, UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru during kharif 2018.
All the recommended agronomic practices were
followed to raise a good crop. Five competitive plants
were taken randomly from each plot in each replication
and observations were recorded on days to 50 per cent
flowering, days to maturity, plant height, primary
branches plant-1, secondary branches plant-1, pods
plant-1, seeds pod-1, 100 seed weight and grain yield
plant-1. Replication-wise mean values were computed
and used for statistical analysis. Analysis of variance
of A × R and B × R hybrids was carried out separately,
the error mean sum of squares of individual analyses
were pooled after testing their homogeneity (Bartlett,
1937). The pooled error mean sum of squares was used
for estimating critical difference (CD) to compare A ×
R and B × R hybrids in terms of the hybrid mean
performance. The combining ability analysis was
performed following Kempthorne (1957).
Since yield is associated with several other
characters, positively with some and negatively with
others, it is necessary to know the overall performance
status of the parents / hybrids for all the characters
simultaneously. The overall status of a parent or a cross
with respect to per se performance was determined as
per the method of Arunachalam and Bandopadhyay
(1979) with slight modification as suggested by Mohan
Rao (2001). The estimates of per se performance of
hybrids were ranked by giving the highest rank for the
parent or the cross which manifested the per se
performance in desirable direction. The lowest rank
was given for parent or the cross with the per se
performance. This was repeated for each character
except days to 50 per cent flowering and days to
maturity for which the ranking was given in reverse
order. The ranks obtained by the parent / hybrid were
summed up across all the characters to arrive at a total
score for each of the parent / cross. Further, the mean
of the total scores of all the genotypes (parents and
hybrids) was computed which was used as the final
norm to ascertain the status of a parent or a hybrid
with respect to per se performance. The parent / hybrid
whose total rank exceeded the final norm were given
high (H) overall per se performance. On the other hand,
the parents or the cross, whose total rank was less
than the final norm were given low (L) per se
performance.
RESULTS AND DISUSSION
The present study was focused on difference
between A× R and B × R hybrids with respect to mean
performance to know the presence or absence of
influence of male sterility inducing cytoplasm effect.
The results on combined analysis of variance of
isogenic hybrids for grain yield and its component
traits (Table 1) and effect of male sterility inducing
cytoplasm are presented. Two sets of isogenic hybrids
i.e., B × R and A × R hybrids differing in their male

Table 1. Combined analysis of variance of iso-nuclear alloplasmic hybrids for grain yield and its component traits in
Pigeonpea
Source of df Mean sum of squares
variation Days to 50 Days to Plant Primary Secondary Pod Pods Seeds Grain yield 100 seed
per cent maturity height branches branches bearing plant-1 pod-1 plant-1 weight
flowering plant-1 plant-1 length
Replications 1 45.06** 50.41* 93.37 0.60 6.93 0.912 5279.06** 0.024 846.15** 0.13
Hybrids 29 30.43** 28.98** 503.2** 1.33** 35.74** 203.73** 5726.71** 0.12** 2055.81** 6.50**
A×R 14 37.20** 34.96** 403.04** 1.15** 38.03** 283.78** 4424.31** 0.11** 1070.71** 4.20**
B×R 14 24.91** 24.81** 559.11** 1.51** 35.94** 121.15** 6638.47** 0.14** 2739.19** 9.17**
A × R vsB × R 1 13.06 3.75 1122.79** 1.29 0.77 239.9** 11195.74** 0.096 6279.99** 1.41**
Error 29 4.06 7.48 27.50 0.37 12.57 22.1 22.1 455.41 180.71 0.07
*Significant at P= 0.05, ** Significant at P= 0.01, A: male sterile line, B: maintainer line, R: restorer lin
 Onkarappa et al. : Effect of male sterility inducing cytoplasm on grain yield and component traits in pigeonpea 197

sterility inducing cytoplasm differed significantly
among themselves for all the traits, which is indicated
by significant mean sum of squares due to B × R and A
× R hybrids. Similar results were obtained by
Chandrashekara et al., (2007) in pearl millet. Both set
of hybrids differing among themselves provided
statistical validity for comparing of B × R and A × R
hybrids to assess the male sterility inducing
cytoplasmic effect. As a group of A × R hybrids differed
significantly from B × R group of hybrids for plant
height, pod bearing length, pods plant-1, grain yield
plant-1 and 100-seed weight which is evident from
significant mean sum of square due to A × R v/s B× R
hybrids (Table 1) provides the basis for possible
cytoplasmic effect. However, it supports the objective
of comparing B × R and A × R hybrids.
There was no effect of male sterility inducing
cytoplasm on mean performance of days to 50 per cent
flowering and days to maturity as evident from non-
significant differences in all the 15 nuclear genetic
backgrounds. Among A × R hybrids, HY3C A × BDN
2 (91.5 days) was early flowering hybrid, while, the
hybrid HY3C B × BDN 2 (93.5 days) was first to flower
among B × R hybrids.
Plant height ranged from 162.8cm (BRG 3A ×
BDN 2) to 207.2cm (BRG 3A × BRGL 13-8) in the class
of A × R hybrids and from 145.4 (HY3C B × BDN 2) to
209.3 cm (BRG 1 B × BRGL 13-8) in B × R hybrids
(Table 2). Significant differences in mean performance
between A × R and their corresponding B × R hybrids
were noticed in 9 nuclear genetic backgrounds, of
which 8 were in favour of sterile-cytoplasm based
hybrids and one in favour of fertile cytoplasm-based
hybrids. Significant differences in mean performance
between A × R and B × R hybrids for primary branches
plant -1 were noticed in only five nuclear genetic
backgrounds, where in four of them favoured fertile
cytoplasm based hybrids with range of 4.3 (HY3C A ×
BDN 2) to 6.9 (BRG 1 A × BDN 2) branches plant-1in A
× R hybrids and 4.4 (BRG 1 B × ICPL- 8863) to 8.3
(BRG 3 B × ICPL- 8863) branches plant-1 in B × R
hybrids. Mean performance of both set of iso-nuclear
alloplasmic hybrids were comparable, where
significant difference was observed in only one nuclear
genetic background (BRG 1 A/ BRG 1 B × BRGL 13-8)
indicating minimal or no influence of cytoplasmic
factors on secondary branches plant-1.
Mean performance for pod bearing length was
in range of 15.5cm (BRG 3 A × GRG 2013) to 60.9cm
(HY3C A × WRP 1) in A × R hybrids and 28.7cm (BRG
3 B × BRGL 13-8) to 55cm (BRG 3 B × GRG 2013) in B
× R hybrids. In five nuclear genetic background
significant differences were positive where two out of
seven significant differences were negative favoring
fertile cytoplasm-based hybrids. For pods plant-1mean
performance of six nuclear genetic background
differences were significant, out of which four were
negative. Pods plant-1 ranged from 273.5 (BRG 3 A ×
BRGL 13-8) to 395.5 (HY3C A × BDN 2) in A × R
hybrids and from 296.7 pods plant-1 (BRG 3 B × BRGL

Table 2: Comparison of per seperformance of A×R and corresponding B×R Pigeonpea hybrids for grain yield and its
component traits
Nuclear genetic background Days to 50 per cent Maturity days Plant height Primary branches Secondary branches
flowering plant-1 plant-1
A×R B×R Diff. A×R B×R Diff. A×R B×R Diff. A×R B×R Diff. A×R B×R Diff.
BRG 1 A/ BRG 1 B × BDN 2 98 97.5 0.5 160 157 3 164.7 160.2 4.575 6.9 5.6 1.3* 29 23.3 5.7
BRG 1 A/ BRG 1 B × WRP 1 94 100 -6 151 153.5 -2.5 170.5 176 -5.5 5.3 5.8 -0.5 17.5 18.6 -1.1
BRG 1 A/ BRG 1 B × GRG 2013 102.5 101.5 1 159 153 6.0* 193 184.5 8.5 4.9 5.2 -0.3 26.7 23.5 3.2
BRG 1 A/ BRG 1 B × BRGL 13-8 103 105.5 -2.5 160.5 157 3.5 193.7 209.3 -15.6** 5.7 5.4 0.3 23.1 32.2 -9.1*
BRG 1 A/ BRG 1 B × ICPL- 8863 103 104 -1 159.5 161.5 -2 201.7 178.2 23.5** 5.3 4.4 0.9 25.3 25.2 0.1
HY3C A/HY3C B × BDN 2 91.5 93.5 -2 148 149 -1 168.5 145.4 23.1** 4.3 6.2 -1.9** 21.3 21.8 -0.5
HY3C A/HY3C B × WRP 1 94 95.5 -1.5 155 155.5 -0.5 170.2 156.6 13.6** 6.6 5.7 0.9 25.5 18.2 7.3
HY3C A/HY3C B × GRG 2013 93 95.5 -2.5 153 157 -4 181.4 171.4 10.00* 5 6.2 -1.2* 18.8 19.4 -0.6
HY3C A/HY3C B × BRGL 13-8 102 101.8 0.2 160.5 161.5 -1 189.7 176.7 13.00* 6 6.1 -0.1 25.2 20.3 4.9
HY3C A/HY3C B × ICPL- 8863 102.5 101.5 1 161 159 2 174.2 170.8 3.4 4.6 4.8 -0.2 19.5 20.3 -0.8
BRG 3 A/ BRG 3 B × BDN 2 99 104 -5 157 161 -4 162.8 168.2 -5.4 5.5 6 -0.5 15.8 18.5 -2.7
BRG 3 A/ BRG 3 B × WRP 1 101.5 100 1.5 159 155.5 3.5 196 184 12.00* 5.4 5.5 -0.1 17.3 14 3.3
BRG 3 A/ BRG 3 B × GRG 2013 98.5 98 0.5 159 155 4 193.2 165.5 27.7** 4.6 6.2 -1.6* 15.5 19.5 -4
BRG 3 A/ BRG 3 B × BRGL 13-8 105.5 103 2.5 163.5 159.5 4 207.2 205.5 1.7 6.2 5.4 0.8 17.4 16.4 1
BRG 3 A/ BRG 3 B × ICPL- 8863 101 101.5 -0.5 156 159.5 -3.5 185.6 170.4 15.2** 6.1 8.3 -2.2** 18.6 21.9 -3.3
Overall mean 99.3 100 -0.9 157.5 157 0.5 183.5 174.8 8.64 5.5 5.8 -0.29 21.1 20.9 0.22
Sem. ± 2.06 1.59 1.44 2.69 2.22 1.95 5.34 3.03 3.44 0.43 0.65 0.45 3.41 3 2.73
CD @ P=0.05* 4.43 3.35 4.16 5.78 4.77 5.62 11.46 6.51 9.88 0.92 1.4 1.3 7.32 6.44 7.85
CD @ P=0.01** 6.15 4.65 5.59 8.03 6.62 7.54 15.91 9.04 13.27 1.28 1.95 1.75 10.2 8.94 10.54
*Significant at P= 0.05, ** Significant at P= 0.01,
198 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

Table 2 continue….
Nuclear genetic background Pod bearing length Pods plant-1 Seeds pod-1 Grain yield plant-1 100 seed wight
A×R B×R Diff. A×R B×R Diff. A×R B×R Diff. A×R B×R Diff. A×R B×R Diff.
BRG 1 A/ BRG 1 B × BDN 2 60.1 41.6 18.5** 389 355.3 33.7 4.6 4.1 0.5** 92.99 138.72 -45.73* 15.04 15.51 -0.47
BRG 1 A/ BRG 1 B × WRP 1 59.2 40.2 19.0** 369.7 432.7 -63.0** 4.8 4.7 0.1 94.02 157.3 -63.28** 15.88 15.54 0.34
BRG 1 A/ BRG 1 B × GRG 2013 55.7 41.5 14.2** 365.2 449.5 -84.3** 4.5 4.1 0.4* 99.48 188.28 -88.80** 16.97 18.65 -1.68**
BRG 1 A/ BRG 1 B × BRGL 13-8 38 35.9 2.1 276.5 507.6 -231.1** 4.8 4.9 -0.1 88.98 197.19 -108.21** 18.33 19.83 -1.50**
BRG 1 A/ BRG 1 B × ICPL- 8863 38.7 48.6 -9.9* 389.5 397.8 -8.3 4.6 4.9 -0.3 116.25 117.67 -1.42 15.83 17.06 -1.23**
HY3C A/HY3C B × BDN 2 53.1 52.6 0.5 395.5 339.3 56.2* 4 4.7 -0.7** 150.3 97.26 53.04* 14.27 13.11 1.16**
HY3C A/HY3C B × WRP 1 60.9 51 9.9* 377.7 401.2 -23.5 4.4 4.9 -0.5** 148.4 113.37 35.03 14.35 15.8 -1.45**
HY3C A/HY3C B × GRG 2013 56 49.5 6.5 331.6 322 9.6 4.6 4.8 -0.2 116.36 94.53 21.83 17.37 14.36 3.01**
HY3C A/HY3C B × BRGL 13-8 34.2 34.1 0.1 275.2 315.9 -40.7 4.9 4.5 0.4* 75.05 100.21 -25.16 17.69 15.77 1.92**
HY3C A/HY3C B × ICPL- 8863 58.2 37.4 20.8** 372.9 379.3 -6.4 4.7 4.6 0.1 115.61 126.2 -10.59 16.29 16.9 -0.61*
BRG 3 A/ BRG 3 B × BDN 2 42.6 51.2 -8.6 391.7 312.2 79.5** 4.6 4.9 -0.3 112.47 96.27 16.2 14.18 11.55 2.63**
BRG 3 A/ BRG 3 B × WRP 1 54.2 46.9 7.3 328.6 358.6 -30 4.7 4.6 0.1 86.81 84.69 2.12 13.27 14.56 -1.29**
BRG 3 A/ BRG 3 B × GRG 2013 31.4 55 -23.6** 280.4 355.3 -74.9** 4.3 4.7 -0.4* 77.38 110.62 -33.24 15.47 13.98 1.49**
BRG 3 A/ BRG 3 B × BRGL 13-8 24 28.7 -4.7 273.5 296.7 -23.2 4.7 4.9 -0.2 80.34 80.01 0.33 16.9 16.8 0.1
BRG 3 A/ BRG 3 B × ICPL- 8863 46.5 38.7 7.8 357.6 361 -3.4 4.9 4.8 0.1 105.3 164.34 -59.04** 15.98 13.7 2.28**
Overall mean 47.52 43.52 3.99 344.97 372.29 -27.32 4.6 4.68 -0.08 103.98 124.44 -20.46 15.85 15.54 0.31
Sem. ± 4.31 4.17 3.14 18.88 18.44 14.79 0.17 0.13 0.12 7.29 15.38 14.92 0.26 0.23 0.19
CD @ P=0.05* 9.26 8.94 9.02 40.5 39.57 42.52 0.37 0.29 0.36 17.01 32.98 42.89 0.56 0.5 0.56
CD @ P=0.01** 12.85 12.41 12.11 56.21 54.92 57.09 0.51 0.4 0.48 23.61 45.78 57.59 0.78 0.69 0.76
*Significant at P= 0.05, ** Significant at P= 0.01,

13-8) to 507.6 pods plant-1 (BRG 1 B × BRGL 13-8) in
B × R hybrids. Only six nuclear genetic background
differences were significant for mean performance of
seeds pod-1 in which half were in favour of sterile
cytoplasm-based hybrids. Range was narrow as from
4 seeds pod-1 (HY3C A × BDN 2) to 4.9 seeds pod-1
(HY3C A × BRGL 13-8) in A × R hybrids and 4 seeds
pod-1 (BRG 1 B × BDN 2) to 4.9 seeds pod-1 (in four
hybrids) in B × R hybrids.
For grain yield plant -1 significant difference
between iso-nuclear alloplasmic hybrids for mean
performance were observed in six nuclear genetic
backgrounds, of which five were negative favouring
fertile cytoplasm-based hybrids. Range was between
75.05g plant-1 (HY3C A × BRGL 13-8) to 150.3g plant-
1
(HY3C A × BDN 2) in A × R hybrids and 80.03g plant-
1
(BRG 3 B × BRGL 13-8) to 197.19g plant-1 (BRG 1 B ×
BRGL 13-8) in B × R hybrids. Significant difference in
mean performance of 100 seed weight (g) of A × R and
B × R hybrids was present in 12 nuclear genetic
backgrounds of which half were negative favouring
sterile cytoplasm-based hybrids. However, all five
crosses with HY3C nuclear genetic background shown
significant difference indicating possible influence of
cytoplasmic factors on 100 seed weight. Range was
13.27g (BRG 3 A × WRP 1) to 18.33g (BRG 1 A × BRGL
13-8) in A × R hybrids and 11.55g (BRG 3 B × BDN 2)
to 19.83g (BRG 1 B × BRGL 13-8) in B × R hybrids.
The non-significant differences between A × R
and B × R hybrids across all nuclear genetic
backgrounds depicted that the cytoplasm did not have
significant influence on per se performance for days to
50 per cent flowering. Similar results were reported by
Moran et al., (2003), Reddy et al., (2007), Reddy et al.,
(2009) in sorghum and Rosamma et al., (2007) in rice.
A × R and B × R hybrids did differ significantly in few
nuclear genetic backgrounds for all traits. However,
these differences were observed in both positive and
negative directions with varying magnitudes
dependent on nuclear background. These results were
in agreement with the results reported by
Hariprasanna et al., (2006) and Faiz et al., (2007) in
rice, Haritha (2011) and Neelavva (2012) in chilli.
Overall per se performance status of the A × R and
corresponding B × R hybrids provide weak evidence
for the presence of effect of male sterility inducing
cytoplasm on the per se performance of hybrids.
Though there were significant differences in few
nuclear genetic backgrounds, they did not show any
trend in favour of a particular cytoplasm. For example,
B × R hybrids performed better than A × R hybrids in
five nuclear genetic backgrounds while the reverse was
true in three nuclear genetic backgrounds. Similar
results were reported by Nanda (2011), Haritha (2011)
and Neelavva (2012) in chilli. The significant variation
observed within the A×R group of hybrids and B×R
group of hybrids provided a statistical basis for
comparing the A×R and B×R hybrids in order to assess
the effect of cytoplasm. A×R hybrids as a group differed
significantly from the group of B×R hybrids.
For few traits Influence of male sterility inducing
cytoplasm was evident in the expression of hybrids
mean performance which was indicated from
significant difference between A×R and B×R hybrids.
 Onkarappa et al. : Effect of male sterility inducing cytoplasm on grain yield and component traits in pigeonpea 199
Such differences so obtained between iso-nuclear
alloplasmic hybrids may not be due to the influence of
cytoplasm alone, but also due to its interaction with
testers. However, it is difficult to discern the effects of
the cytoplasm per se and cytoplasm × nuclear
interactions. The present results provides no reasons
to believe the presence of influence of male sterility
inducing cytoplasm effects on the expression of
hybrids for overall per se performance. However, the
influence was not in favour of any particular
cytoplasm.
To conclude, there is no significant influence of
cytoplasm on seed yield and its attributing traits of
pigeonpea as evident from the comparison of A×R and
their corresponding B×R hybrids.
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 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3): 201-206, 2020

Field efficacy of some selected insecticides against whitefly, Bemisia

tabaci, a vector of yellow mosaic disease in greengram
S AMBARISH*1, CM KALLESHWARASWAMY1 and V VENKATARAVANAPPA2

ABSTRACT
1
Department of Agricultural Yellow mosaic disease (YMD) is one of the most destructive diseases of
Entomology, University of Agricultural greengram popularly known as the yellow plague of Kharif pulses. The present
and Horticultural Sciences, study was conducted to know the effect of some selected insecticides on vector
Shivamogga-577204, Karnataka, India; whitefly, Bemisia tabaci and the incidence of YMD. Two years of pooled data
2
Division of Plant Pathology, CHES
revealed that thiamethoxam 25 WG and imidacloprid 17.8 SL recorded lowest
Chettalli, ICAR-IIHR, Kodagu,
Karnataka, India
population of whiteflies (0.80 and 1.16) per trifoliate leaf and lowest per cent
disease incidence 2.28 and 2.48, respectively. Similarly, these insecticide-treated
plots recorded higher grain yield (9.81 and 9.20 q/ha) and C: B ratio (1:3.01 and
*E-mail: ambi.s.gowda@gmail.com 1:2.99), respectively. Overall, the study indicated that insecticides were efficient
in reducing the whitefly population there by reducing YMD incidence in
Received: September 20, 2020 greengram.
Accepted: November 20, 2020
Key words: Greengram, Imidacloprid, Thiamethoxam
Handling Editor:
Dr. Mohd. Akram, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur

Green gram (Vigna radiata L.) Wilczek) generally
known as mungbean, is native to India or the Indo
Burma region (Vavilov, 1951). It is well adapted to
different cropping pattern/systems and creates an
important source of cereal-based diet worldwide
(Anonymous, 2018). The major reason for the low yield
is the sensitivity of the crop to weeds, insects and
diseases caused by fungi, virus and bacteria
(Anonymous, 2012). Among those, the viruses are the
most crucial group of plant pathogens, which
substantially decreases the yield (Kang et al, 2005).
Different species of insect pests attack greengram, but
sucking insect pests such as aphids and whitefly are
of the major importance (Islam et al, 2008). These insect
pests not only reduce the vigour of the plant by sucking
the sap but also transmit the viral diseases and affect
photosynthesis as well (Sachan et al, 1994). Among
the different viral diseases infecting greengram, yellow
mosaic is the most destructive in the Indian
subcontinent. This disease is caused by at least three
different species of begomoviruses (Mungbean yellow
mosaic virus, Mungbean yellow mosaic virus and
Horsegram yellow mosaic virus) and are transmitted
through plant-to-plant by whitefly, Bemisia tabaci
(Chhabra and Kooner, 1981; Selvi et al., 2006; Mantesh
et al, 2019). This virus cannot be transmitted through
sap, seed and soil or mechanically but Thailand strain
of this virus is reported to be transmitted by mechanical
inoculation (Boss, 1999; Shad et al, 2006).
Insecticides are used as the frontline defense
sources against disease vectoring insects in India.
Effective management of insect vectors of plant
pathogens is of crucial importance to minimizing
vector-borne diseases in greengram. Insecticides play
an important role in managing vector populations by
reducing the number of individuals that can acquire
and transmit a virus, thereby potentially lowering
disease incidence. Hence, experiments were conducted
to evaluate different insecticides against whitefly, B.
tabaci and YMD incidence.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The field experiment was conducted at AHRS,
Bhavikere, University of Agricultural and Horticultural
Sciences, Shivamogga during two seasons, i.e., Kharif
2018 and 2019. The experiment was laid out in a
Randomized Block Design (RBD) with eight
treatments and replicated in thrice. The widely grown
greengram variety KKM-3 was used. The crop was
raised according to the package of practices of UAHS,
Shivamogga except for plant protection measures. The
treatments were imposed at 30 and 45 days after
sowing of the crop. The spraying was done by using
hand-operated knapsack sprayer with a standard
volume of water. Sufficient care was taken to avoid the
drift problem to neighboring treatments.
202 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020
Observation of the whitefly population was made
on five randomly selected tagged plants in each
treatment. The adult whitefly count was taken at early
morning by slowly lifting the top, middle and bottom
trifoliate leaf in each plant at a day before, seventh
and fifteen days after imposition of treatments. The
data were subjected to square root transformation
before statistical analysis. Both the years of 2018 and
2019 yield data were recorded on each treatment and
computed to hectare basis. Further, the data of both
the seasons were pooled and analysed to bring out
valuable conclusions.
The observation on YMD incidence was recorded
at 15 days interval by counting the number of plants
infected, and the total number of plants in an
experimental plot (for each treatment) and Per cent
Disease Incidence (PDI) was worked out using the
formula given below.
Percent Disease Incidence (PDI) =
Number of diseased plants
× 100
Total number of plants examined
Further, data were transformed to arcsine values
and subjected to statistical analysis. The data of both
the seasons (Kharif 2018 and 2019) are pooled and
analysed.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Effect of insecticides on whitefly population
In 2018, the pre-treatment population of the
whiteflies ranged from 4.8 to 5.93 per trifoliate leaf in
all the treatments. Whitefly population was found to
be statistically non-significant in pre-treatment plots.
At seven days after spraying, a significant difference
was found among the treatments. The lowest number
of whitefly population per trifoliate leaf was recorded
in the thiamethoxam 25 WG (1.2) followed by
imidacloprid 17.8 SL (2.07). But the higher population
of whiteflies was recorded in the control plot (6.40). At
15 days after spraying of insecticides, the same trend
was noticed. The lowest population of whiteflies per
trifoliate leaf was recorded in the thiamethoxam 25
WG application plot (1.73), which was followed by
imidacloprid 17.8 SL (2.33). In untreated control, the
whitefly population was 6.60 and significantly
differed from the other insecticides tested (Table 1).
The lowest number of whiteflies per trifoliate leaf
was recorded in the thiamethoxam 25 WG treated pot
(1.43) which was followed by imidacloprid 17.8 SL
(1.80) at seven days after spraying of insecticides. The
highest number of whiteflies was noticed in the
untreated plot (6.53), which is significantly differed
from other insecticides evaluated. Observations
recorded at 15 days after the second spray indicated
that the lowest number of whiteflies were recorded in
thiamethoxam 25 WG (1.0), followed by imidacloprid
17.8 SL (1.4) per trifoliate leaf. The higher number of
whiteflies were recorded in the control plot (5.40) and
found to significantly differ from all the insecticides
evaluated (Table 1).
In 2019, the observations recorded at seven days
after treatment imposition indicated that
thiamethoxam 25 WG was found to be most effective
in reducing whitefly population. It recorded 1.13 per
trifoliate leaf and was followed by imidacloprid 17.8
SL 1.47 with per trifoliate leaf. The higher number of
whiteflies were recorded in the control plot (6.07) and
found to be significantly differed from all the
insecticides tested. Observations at 15 days after
treatment imposition showed the lowest whitefly
population per trifoliate leaf was recorded in
thiamethoxam 25 WG (1.47), followed by 1.8 per
trifoliate leaf in imidacloprid 17.8 SL. The higher
number of whiteflies were recorded in the control plot
(6.33) and found to be significantly different from all
the insecticides evaluated (Table 2).
The lowest number of whiteflies per trifoliate leaf
was recorded in the thiamethoxam 25 WG treated pot
(0.80) which was followed by imidacloprid 17.8 SL
(1.13) at seven days after spraying of insecticides. The
highest number of whiteflies was noticed in the
untreated plot (6.67), which is significantly differed
from other insecticides. Observations recorded at 15
days after the second spray indicated that the lowest
number of whiteflies was recorded in thiamethoxam
25 WG (0.6), followed by imidacloprid 17.8 SL 0.93
per trifoliate leaf. The higher number of whiteflies was
recorded in the control plot (6.87) and found to
significantly differ from all the insecticides evaluated
(Table 2). The similar trend was observed in pooled
data also (Table 3).
Effect of insecticides on YMD
Per cent disease incidence of YMD at 15 and 30
days after sowing indicated that there was no
significant difference among the treatments. However,
at 45 days after sowing, the lowest disease incidence
was recorded in the thiamethoxam 25 WG treated plot
(1.82 %), and it was found to be on par with the
imidacloprid 17.8 SL (1.98 %). The highest disease
incidence (8.23 %) was documented in the control plot.
At 60 days after sowing, the lowest disease incidence
 Ambarish et al. : Field efficacy of some selected insecticides against whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, a vector of 203
yellow mosaic disease in greengram

Table 1. Evaluation of selected insecticides against whitefly, B. tabaci on greengram during Kharif 2018.

Treatments Dosage DBS Mean number of whiteflies per trifoliate leaf

First spray Second spray
7 DAS 15 DAS 7 DAS 15 DAS
T - Imidacloprid 17.8 SL 0.3 ml 5.33 2.07 2.33 1.80 1.40
1
(2.41) (1.59)e (1.67)de (1.51)ef (1.37)d
T - Acetamiprid 20 SP 0.3 g 4.80 2.67 2.73 2.53 2.53
2
(2.30) (1.78)de (1.77)cd (1.74)de (1.74)c
T - Acephate 75 SP 1.0 g 5.27 3.13 3.60 3.00 3.07
3
(2.40) (1.90)cd (2.02)bc (1.87)cd (1.89)c
T - Thiamethoxam 25 WG 0.5 g 5.93 1.20 1.73 1.43 1.00
4
(2.53) (1.28)f (1.49)e (1.47)f (1.22)d
T -Dinotefuron 20 SG 0.3 g 5.47 3.60 4.00 3.60 3.20
5
(2.44) (2.01)bcd (2.12)b (2.02)bc (1.92)c
T - NSKE 5% - 5.07 4.60 4.80 4.00 4.20
6
(2.36) (2.25)b (2.29)b (2.12)b (2.17)b
T - Dimethoate 30 EC (standard check) 1.7 ml 4.87 3.93 4.13 3.27 3.40
7
(2.31) (2.10)bc (2.14)b (1.94)bcd (1.97)bc
T - Control - 4.93 6.40 6.60 6.53 5.40
8
(2.33) (2.62)a (2.66)a (2.65)a (2.43)a
F value NS * * * *
SEM± 0.09 0.09 0.10 0.08 0.07
CD @ 0.05 - 0.27 0.29 0.24 0.21
CV (%) 6.66 8.05 8.47 7.07 7.46

Numbers in the parenthesis are (x  0.5 transformed values; * -Significant at (P0.05); NS- Non-significant; DBS-Day before spray;
DAS- days after spraying; Means followed by the same letter do not differ significantly by DMRT (P=0.05)

Table 2. Evaluation of selected insecticides against whitefly, B. tabaci on greengram during Kharif 2019.

Treatments Dosage DBS Mean number of whiteflies per trifoliate leaf

First spray Second spray
7 DAS 15 DAS 7 DAS 15 DAS
T - Imidacloprid 17.8 SL 0.3 ml 6.13 1.47 1.80 1.13 0.93
1
(2.57) (1.40)de (1.50)ef (1.27)de (1.18)f
T - Acetamiprid 20 SP 0.3 g 4.80 1.87 2.27 1.60 2.00
2
(2.30) (1.52)d (1.66)de (1.44)cd (1.58)e
T - Acephate 75 SP 1.0 g 5.40 2.67 3.00 2.20 2.53
3
(2.43) (1.78)c (1.87)cd (1.64)c (1.74)de
T - Thiamethoxam 25 WG 0.5 g 5.93 1.13 1.47 0.80 0.60
4
(2.53) (1.28)e (1.39)f (1.13)e (1.05)f
T -Dinotefuron 20 SG 0.3 g 5.27 3.27 3.60 3.20 2.93
5
(2.40) (1.94)bc (2.02)bc (1.92)b (1.85)cd
T - NSKE 5% - 5.07 4.00 4.27 3.60 3.80
6
(2.35) (2.12)b (2.18)b (2.02)b (2.07)b
T - Dimethoate 30 EC (standard check) 1.7 ml 5.13 3.73 4.20 3.20 3.27
7
(2.37) (2.06)b (2.17)b (1.92)b (1.94)bc
T - Control - 4.80 6.07 6.33 6.67 6.87
8
(2.30) (2.56)a (2.61)a (2.67)a (2.71)a
F value NS * * * *
SEM± 0.44 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.07
CD @ 0.05 - 0.20 0.24 0.26 0.21
CV (%) 14.25 6.39 6.53 8.54 8.54
Numbers in the parenthesis are (x  0.5 transformed values; * -Significant at (P0.05); NS- Non-significant; DBS-Day before spray;
DAS- Days after spraying; Means followed by the same letter do not differ significantly by DMRT (P=0.05)
204 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

Table 3. Evaluation of selected insecticides against whitefly, B. tabaci on greengram (pooled data of 2018 and 2019).
Treatments Dosage DBS Mean number of whiteflies per trifoliate leaf
First spray Second spray
7 DAS 15 DAS 7 DAS 15 DAS
T - Imidacloprid 17.8 SL 0.3 ml 5.73 1.76 2.06 1.46 1.16
1
(2.49) (1.49)e (1.58)de (1.39)ef (1.27)e
T - Acetamiprid 20 SP 0.3 g 4.80 2.26 2.50 2.06 2.26
2
(2.30) (1.65)e (1.72)d (1.60)de (1.66)d
T - Acephate 75 SP 1.0 g 5.33 2.90 3.30 2.60 2.80
3
(2.41) (1.83)d (1.94)c (1.76)cd (1.81)cd
T - Thiamethoxam 25 WG 0.5 g 5.93 1.16 1.60 1.26 0.80
4
(2.53) (1.28)f (1.44)e (1.32)f (1.13)e
T -Dinotefuron 20 SG 0.3 g 5.36 3.43 3.80 3.40 3.06
5
(2.42) (1.97)cd (2.07)bc (1.97)bc (1.88)c
T - NSKE 5% - 5.06 4.30 4.53 3.80 4.00
6
(2.35) (2.18)b (2.24)b (2.07)b (2.12)b
T - Dimethoate 30 EC (standard check) 1.7 ml 5.00 3.83 4.167 3.23 3.33
7
(2.34) (2.07)bc (2.15)b (1.92)bc (1.95)bc
T - Control - 4.86 6.23 6.46 6.60 6.13
8
(2.31) (2.59)a (2.63)a (2.66)a (2.57)a
F value NS * * * *
SEM± 0.08 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.07
CD @ 0.05 - 0.16 0.19 0.22 0.20
CV (%) 5.27 5.08 5.68 6.90 6.37

Numbers in the parenthesis are (x  0.5 transformed values; * -Significant at (P0.05); NS- Non-significant; DBS-Day before spray;
DAS- Days after spraying; Means followed by the same letter do not differ significantly by DMRT (P=0.05)

was recorded in the thiamethoxam 25 WG (2.28 %),
and it was on par with the treatment imidacloprid
17.8 SL (2.48 %). In control, records the 11.8 per cent
virus disease incidence, and it was found to be highest
among the treatments (Table 4).
From the above results, it was evident that the
treatments had a differential effect in reducing the
whitefly population at different intervals after the
application of insecticides. The treatments such as
thiamethoxam 25 WG @ 0.5 g/litre and imidacloprid
17.8 SL @ 0.3 ml/litre were found to be effective in
reducing the whitefly population in greengram.
Similarly, the lowest disease incidence was also
recorded in these treatments. In other treatments also
there is significantly reduced the whitefly population
and YMD incidence to some extent when compared to
the control. Thiamethoxam 25 WG and imidacloprid
17.8 SL are insecticide molecules belong to the
neonicotinoid group. These insecticides are the broad-
spectrum, systemic compounds exhibit activity
against sap-sucking insect pests. Neonicotinoid
compounds are used primarily as plant systemic,
applied to seeds, soil or foliage, they move to the
growing tip and afford long-term protection from
piercing and sucking insect pests (Kundoo et al, 2017).
They possess lower mammalian toxicity, less
resurgence, environmental protection, pest
management selectivity and low toxicity to natural
enemies (Kunkel et al, 1999). Due to the mortality of the
whitefly vector in insecticides treated plots, further
spread of YMD was reduced. Hence insecticides play
an essential role in reducing the disease incidence.
These results are in accordance with the findings of
Ganapathy and Karuppiah (2004); (Salam et al, 2009);
Hossain et al, (2010); Mahalakshmi et al, (2015) who
reported the effectiveness of thiamethoxam and
imidacloprid in reducing the whitefly and YMD
incidence in greengram.
Impact of insecticides on grain yield and cost
economics in greengram
Pooled data revealed that thiamethoxam 25 WG
was superior among all other treatments by
documenting the highest yield of 9.81 q/ha. Next best
treatments were imidacloprid 17.8 SL (9.2 q/ha),
acetamiprid 20 SP (8.6 q/ha), acephate 75 SP (8.25 q/
ha), dinotefuran 20 SG (7.82 q/ha), dimethoate 30 EC
(7.69 q/ha) and NSKE 5% (7.02 q/ha). However, lower
grain yield 6.31 q/ha was recorded in the untreated
control. Thiamethoxam 25 WG documented the highest
C: B ratio (1:3.01) and was superior when compared to
 Ambarish et al. : Field efficacy of some selected insecticides against whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, a vector of 205
yellow mosaic disease in greengram

Table 4. YMD incidence in different selected insecticides treated plots of greengram (pooled data of 2018 and 2019).

Treatments Dosage Per cent disease incidence (%)

15 DAS 30 DAS 45 DAS 60 DAS
T - Imidacloprid 17.8 SL 0.3 ml 0.81 1.23 1.98 2.48
1
(5.04) (6.30) (8.05)e (9.03)e
T - Acetamiprid 20 SP 0.3 g 0.82 1.67 3.38 4.15
2
(5.14) (7.35) (10.59)d (11.74)d
T - Acephate 75 SP 1.0 g 0.80 1.40 3.53 4.50
3
(5.07) (6.75) (10.82)d (12.19)d
T - Thiamethoxam 25 WG 0.5 g 0.71 1.15 1.82 2.28
4
(4.76) (6.13) (7.72)e (8.67)e
T -Dinotefuron 20 SG 0.3 g 0.76 2.17 5.20 6.22
5
(4.92) (8.39) (13.16)c (14.42)c
T - NSKE 5% - 0.75 1.55 6.40 7.70
6
(4.94) (7.13) (14.63)b (16.10)b
T - Dimethoate 30 EC 1.7 ml 0.68 1.42 5.50 6.73
7
(standard check) (4.66) (6.79) (13.56)bc (15.01)bc
T - Control - 0.86 1.57 8.23 11.82
8
(5.27) (7.13) (16.67)a (20.09)a
F value NS NS * *
SEM± 0.18 0.50 0.41 0.50
CD @ 0.05 - - 1.23 1.50
CV (%) 6.46 12.52 5.92 6.39

Numbers in the parenthesis indicate arcsine transformed values; * -Significant at (P0.05); NS- Non-significant; DAS- Days after
sowing; Means followed by the same letter do not differ significantly by DMRT (P=0.05)

Table 5. Effect of selected insecticides on grain yield and cost economics of greengram (pooled).
Treatments Grain Cost of Cost of Cost of cultivation Gross Net C:B
yield production treatments (Rs./ha) income income
(q/ha) (Rs./ha) (Rs./ha) (Rs./ha) (Rs./ha)
T - Imidacloprid 17.8 SL @ 0.3 ml 9.20ab 20489.32 1986.4 22475.72 67287.73 44812.01 1: 2.99
1
bc
T Acetamiprid 20 SP @ 0.3g 8.60 20489.32 2080 22569.32 62891.80 40322.48 1: 2.79
2-
bc
T Acephate 75 SP @ 1.5 g 8.25 20489.32 2332 22821.32 60332.25 37510.93 1: 2.64
3-
a
T - Thiamethoxam 25 WG @ 0.5 g 9.81 20489.32 3340 23829.32 71732.40 47903.08 1: 3.01
4
cd
T Dinotefuron 20 SG@ 0.3 g 7.82 20489.32 4254 24743.32 57212.04 32468.72 1: 2.31
5-
de
T - NSKE 5% 7.02 20489.32 2200 22689.32 51369.76 28680.44 1: 2.26
6

T - Dimethoate 30 EC 7.69cd 20489.32 1286 21775.32 56245.10 34469.78 1: 2.58

7
(Standard check)
T Control 6.31e 20489.32 0.0 20489.32 46908.83 26419.51 1: 2.25
8-

F value * - - - - - -
SEM± 0.36 - - - - - -
CD @ 0.05 1.08 - - - - - -
CV (%) 7.70 - - - - - -
Market price of greengram= Rs. 7313/quintal; Variety-KKM-3
*Significant at (P0.05); Means followed by the same letter do not differ significantly by DMRT (P=0.05)

other treatments, followed by imidacloprid 17.8 SL 2.26) and dinotefuran 20 SG (1:2.31). While the
(1:2.99), acetamiprid 20 SP (1: 2.79) and acephate 75 untreated control recorded C: B ratio (1:2.25) it was
SP (1: 2.64), dimethoate 30 EC (1: 2.58), NSKE 5% (1: found to be lowest among the treatments. Due to the
206 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020
application of insecticides reduction in the whitefly
and MYMV disease incidence, in addition to this, the
other sucking insect pests also reduced. Hence, it leads
to higher grain yield and C: B ratio. The influence of
insecticides on virus incidence on greengram was also
reported by Shah et al, (2007) who reported that
thiamethoxam 25 WS @ 0.005 per cent recorded lowest
whiteflies and disease incidence (10.7%). Similarly,
Yadav et al, (2015) and Sujatha and Bharpoda (2017)
reported that application of imidacloprid and
thiamethoxam insecticides in greengram recorded the
higher grain yield and C: B ratio (Table 5). There was a
significant impact of insecticides on the incidence of
whiteflies and YMD in greengram. Although
insecticides did not completely eliminate disease
incidence, they could reduce the incidence to greater
extent. Hence, Thiamethoxam 25 WG @ 0.5 g/litre and
imidacloprid 17.8 SL @ 0.3ml/litre insecticides may
be utilized for the management of YMD and its vector
whitefly in greengram.
REFERENCES
Anonymous, 2018, state/season-wise area, production and
productivity of moong in India (2017-2018) Source:
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Govt. of
India. (ON1953). https://www.indiastat.com.
Anonymous. 2012, Selected state-wise area, production
and productivity of mung (Kharif and Rabi) in India,
Ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare. Govt. of
India.
Boss L. 1999. Plant viruses: Unique and intriguing
pathogens: A textbook of plant virology, Back huys
Publishers, Netherland.
Chhabra SK and Kooner BS. 1981. Field resistance in
blackgram (Vigna mungo L.) against insect-pest
complex and yellow mosaic virus. Indian Journal of
Entomology 43: 288-293.
Ganapathy T and Karuppiah. 2004. Evaluation of new
insecticides for the management of whitefly (Bemisia
tabaci (Genn.), Mungbean Yellow Mosaic Virus (MYMV)
and Urdbean leaf crinkle virus disease in mungbean.
Indian Journal of Plant Protection 32: 35-38.
Hossain AS. Islam SM. Akhter N and Muqit A. 2010. Effect
of plant extracts, insecticides and cultural practices on
growth characters and disease severity of mungbean
yellow mosaic. International Journal of Sustainable
Crop Production 5(2): 16-20.
Islam MS. Latif MA. Ali M and Hossain MS. 2008.
Population dynamics of whitefly on some
recommended mungbean varieties in Bangladesh and
its impact on the incidence of Mungbean Yellow Mosaic
Virus disease and yield. International Journal of
Sustainable. Agricultural Technology 5(4):41-46.
Kang BC. Yeam I and Jahn MM. 2005. Genetics of plant
virus resistance. Annual Review of Phytopathology
43:581-621.
Kundoo AA. Showket A. Dar M. Mushtaq. Zaffarbashir.
Dar MS. GUL S. GULZAR MTA. 2017. Role of
neonicotinoids in insect pest management: A review.
Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 6(1): 333-
339.
Kunkel BA. Held DW and Potter DA. 1999. Impact of
halofenozide, imidacloprid and bendiocarb on
beneficial invertebrates and predatory activity in
turfgrass. Journal of Economic Entomology 92: 922-
930.
Mahalakshmi MS. Sreekanth M. Adinarayana M and
Koteswararao Y. 2015. Efficacy of some novel
insecticide molecules against the incidence of
whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci Genn.) and occurrence of
Yellow Mosaic Virus (YMV) disease in urdbean.
International Journal of Pure and Applied Bioscience
3(5): 101-106.
Mantesh M. Venkatesh and Pankaja NS. 2019. Validation
of the modes of transmission of Mungbean Yellow Mosaic
Virus (MYMV) in mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek],
International Journal of Current Microbiology and
Applied Biosciences 8(11): 950-957.
Sachan JN. Yadava CP. Ahmad R and Katti G. 1994. Insect
Pest Management in Pulse Crop. In: Dhaliwal GS and
Arora R. (eds.) Agricultural Insect Pest Management.
Common Wealth Publishers, New Delhi, India. 45-48
pp.
Salam SA. Patil MS and Byadagi AS. 2009. IDM of
Mungbean Yellow Mosaic Disease. Annals of Plant
Protection Sciences 17(1): 157-160.
Selvi R. Muthiah AR and Manivannan N. 2006. Tagging of
RAPD marker for MYMV resistance in mungbean
[Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek]. Asian Journal of Plant
Science. 5: 277-280
Shad N. Mughal SM. Farooq K and Bashir M. 2006.
Evaluation of mungbean germplasm for resistance
against Mungbean Yellow Mosaic begomovirus. Pakistan
Journal of Botany 38(2): 449-457.
Sujatha B and Bharpoda TM. 2017. Evaluation of
insecticides against sucking Pests Grown during Kharif.
International Journal of Current Microbiology and
Applied Sciences 6(10): 1258-1268.
Vavilov NI. 1951. The Origin, Variation, Immunity, and
Breeding of Cultivated Plants. Chronica Botanica 13:1-
364.
Yadav SK. Patel S. Agnihotri M and Bisht RS. 2015. Efficacy
of insecticides and biopesticides against sucking pests
in blackgram. Annals of Plant Protection Sciences.
23(2): 223-226.
 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3): 207-209, 2020

Short Communication
Productivity and profitability of soybean as influenced by site-specific
nutrient management under mid-hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh
JANARDAN SINGH

Department of Agronomy, CSK
Himachal Pradesh Krishi
Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur, Himachal
Pradesh, 176 062 India
*E-mail: singhjdr@rediffmail.com
Received: September 3, 2020
Accepted: November 11, 2020
Handling Editor:
Dr Narendra Kumar, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur
ABSTRACT
A field experiment was conducted at Research Farm, CSK Himachal Pradesh
Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur, India to study the productivity and
profitability of soybean under site-specific nutrient management. The
experiment was laid out in randomized block design comprising of three
replications and seven treatments including N 43P43K 50, N 43P 43K 0, N 43P0K 50,
N0P43K50, N20P60K40, Farm yard manure (5t/ha) and N0P0K 0. Experimental site
was silty clay loam in texture, acidic in reaction, low in available nitrogen, and
medium in available phosphorus and potassium. The highest seed yield (1840
kg/ha), harvest index (38.5%), yield gap over N43P43K50(919kg/ha in T7), net
return (42234 Rs/ha) and benefit cost ratio (2.25) was recorded at
N 43P 43K 50(SSNM). Omission of nutrients significantly reduced yield and
monetary returns while it enhanced yield gap. The lowest seed yield, harvest
index, net return and benefit cost ratio was recorded in absolute control treatment
(N0P0K0). Site specific nutrient management (N43 P43 K50) proved to be the best
treatment in enhancing the yield and monetary returns of soybean. The
recommended dose of nutrients (N 20P 60K40) and farm yard manure @ 5t/ha
proved to be the second and third best treatment, respectively.

Key words: Productivity, Profitability, Site specific nutrient management,

Soybean

Soybean is an important oilseed crop, grown
under a wide range of agro-ecological conditions in
different cropping systems. The Brazil, United States
and Argentina are the world’s largest soybean
producers and represent 81% of global soybean
production (Anonymous, 2019-20). In India, it was
grown on an area of 11.18 million hectares with
production and productivity of 13.15 million tonnes
and 1235 kilogram/hectare, respectively (Anonymous,
2016b). Among the legumes, soybean is valued for its
high protein (38-45%) as well as its high oil content
(20%). It supplies approximately 65% world meal and
22% of the world edible oil. It is a soil building crop
and its water requirement is less as compared to other
crops (Imran et al., 2017). The growing concern about
impaired soil health, declining productivity and
nutrient use efficiency are compelling the cultivars to
use adequate doses of nutrients during last two
decades. The low nutrient use efficiency and
associated environmental pollution and global
warming problems have raised serious concerns about
the existing nutrient management practices. As such,
it is high time to develop site-specific nutrient
management technologies which are able to synergic
crop-soil nutrient dynamics. It is an approach to feed
crops with nutrients as and when needed. The
application and management of nutrients are
dynamically adjusted to crop needs of the location and
season. Considering the above-said facts, the present
investigation was carried out.
The field experiment was conducted at Research
farm, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, CSK
Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya,
Palampur, India during rainy season of 2018. The soil
of the experimental site was silty clay loam with 5.4
pH and 0.5% OC. The available nitrogen, phosphorus
and potassium was 131.1, 13.1 and 256.2 kg/ha,
respectively. The weekly maximum and minimum
temperature ranged from 23.57 ºC to 32.89 ºC and 10.14
ºC to 20.64 ºC, respectively. The mean relative humidity
ranged from 24.07% to 94.93% and total of 2619.4 mm
rainfall was received during the crop season.
The experiment was laid out in randomized block
design with seven treatments and three replications.
The treatments were N43P43K50 (SSNM), N43P43K0 (K
208 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020

omission), N 43 P 0 K 50 (P omission), N 0P 43 K 50 (N The data on effect of different treatments on seed

omission), N20P60K40 (RDN), FYM @ 5t/ha (Farmer’s
Practice) and N0P0K0 (absolute control). This SSNM-
NE software tool is developed by International Plant
Nutrition Institute (IPNI) in collaboration with
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre
(CIMMYT). Nutrient Expert is based on SSNM
principles and is an easy-to-use, highly interactive,
and computer based decision support system that
rapidly provides nutrient recommendations for an
individual farmer’s field both in the presence or
absence of soil-testing data, and thus develops
fertilizer recommendations for a specific plot or
growing environment. To calculate the site specific
doses, Nutrient ExpertR calculator was used which
required information including average yield of
soybean in region, recommended dose of nutrients,
targeted yield, previous grown crop and nutrients
applied in the field, status of organic carbon, available
nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, and soil texture.
The soybean was used as test crop. Seeds were sown
at an inter-row spacing of 45 cm at a seed rate of 100
kg/ha. Different doses of nitrogen, phosphorus and
potassium, and farmyard manure were applied as per
the respective treatment. To control the grassy and
broadleaf weeds, pendimethalin (Stomp 30 EC) was
applied @ 4.5 l/ha within 48 hours of sowing whereas
quizalofop (Targa Super) @ 750 ml/ha + chlolrimuron
(Curin) @ 37.5 g/ha were applied as post-emergence
at 40 days after sowing. One hand weeding was also
done at 55 days after sowing for the control of major
weeds like Echinocloa colona, Ageratum conyzoides,
Polyganum alatam, Euphorbia sp. etc. Super
(Chlorpyriphos+Cypermethrin) was applied @ 1.0 l/
ha at 70 days after sowing to control insects (beetles
and weevils) attack on the crop. Other package of
practices recommended for the region was also
followed. Data were recorded on yield, yield gap and
economics of soybean and subjected to analysis of
variance with mean comparison of 5% level of
significance (Gomez and Gomez 1984).
and straw yield, and harvest index were presented in
table 1. Seed and straw yields were significantly
influenced by different treatments. The highest seed
and straw yields was recorded in N43 P43K50 (SSNM)
while the lowest yields was recorded in absolute
control. N 20P 60K 40 (RDN) and farmer’s practice
(farmyard manure, 10 t/ha) recorded significantly
higher yields over N43P43K0 (K omission), N43P0K50 (P
omission) and N0P43K50 (N omission) and was 2nd and
3rd best treatment, respectively. N43 P43 K50 (SSNM)
resulted in 9.1, 11.2 and 99.8 percent increased seed
yield over N20P60K40 (RDN), FYM @ 5t/ha (Farmer’s
Practice) and N 0P0K 0, respectively. Omission of
nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium from N43 P43 K50
(SSNM) reduced 34.23, 33.85 and 37.71 percent seed
yield in N43P43K0 (K omission), N43P0K50 (P omission),
N0P43K50 (N omission), respectively (Table 1). This
shows that if nutrients are applied according to site
specific needs targeted yield can be easily achieved.
This might be due to fulfilment of nutritional needs of
crop on that site. The findings of Kauraw et al. (2007),
Patil et al. (2016) and Rana and Badiyala (2014)
confirm the present experimental results. The harvest
index also followed the similar trend like yield. The
highest harvest index was noted in N43 P43 K50 (SSNM)
while the lowest was in absolute control. This might
be due to reason that balanced application of nutrients
resulted in the higher seed yield over straw yield.
Similar results have also been reported by Swati and
Singh (2018) in soybean.
A perusal of data on effect of different treatments
on yield gap over N43P43K50 (SSNM) and yield gap over
N20P60K40 has been presented in table 1. The lowest
yield gap (153kg/ha) over N 43P43K50 (SSNM) was
recorded in N20P60K40 while the highest yield gap (919
kg/ha) was in absolute control. Farmers’practice (FYM,
5t/ha) resulted in higher yield gap as compared to
N20P60K 40. The lowest yield gap (32 kg/ha) over
N20P60K40 was recorded in farmers’ practice (FYM, 5t/

Table 1. Effect of different treatments on yield, yield gap and monetary returns
Treatment Yield (kg/ha) HI Yield gap (kg/ha) Monetary returns (Rs/ha)
Seed Straw (%) Yield gap over T1 Yield gap over T5 Gross Net B:C
T1 - N43 P43 K50 (SSNM) 1840 2939 38.5 - -153 76156 42234 2.25
T2 - N43 P43 K0 (T1- K omission) 1210 2307 34.4 630 477 51578 18577 1.56
T3 - N43 P0 K50 (T1- P omission) 1217 2311 34.5 623 470 51839 20902 1.68
T4 - N0 P43 K50 (T1- N omission) 1146 2255 33.7 694 541 49130 15738 1.47
T5 - N20 P60 K40 (RDN) 1687 2891 36.8 153 - 70609 35981 2.04
T6 - FYM@5t/ha(Farmer’s Practice) 1655 2898 36.3 185 32 69517 30031 1.76
T7 - N0 P0 K0(Absolute control) 921 2104 30.4 919 766 40651 11165 1.38
SEm± 80 62 - - - - - -
CD (P=0.05) 248 192 - - - - - -
SSNM – Site specific nutrient management RDN – Recommended dose of nutrients
 Janardan Singh : Site-specific nutrient management in soybean
ha) while the highest (766 kg/ha) was in absolute
control. Application of major N, P and K nutrients in
addition to micronutrient like in case of farmyard
manure resulted in higher seed yield. Omission of
nutrients, N, P and K like in case of N 43P43K 0 (K
omission), N43P0K50 (P omission), N0P43K50 (N omission)
and absolute control resulted in drastic reduction in
yield. Yield gap might be due to the variation in yield
in different treatments. This indicates that adequate
quantity of nutrients should be supplied to harvest
good yield of soybean.
The date on gross return, net return and benefit
cost ratio were presented in the table-1. The maximum
gross and net returns was observed in N 43P43K 50
(SSNM). The lowest returns was noted in control
treatment. Omission of nutrient drastically reduced
the gross and net returns in N43P43K0 (K omission),
N43P0K 50 (P omission), N 0P43K 50 (N omission) and
absolute control. N20P60K40 and farmer’s practice (FYM
@ 5t/ha) were equally better treatment like N43P43K50
(SSNM) in respect of returns. This might be due to
higher yields at higher nutrient level. Hellal and
Abdelhamid (2013), Patil et al. (2018) and Billore and
Srivastava (2015) reported similar results. Maximum
B:C was observed in N 43P43K 50 (SSNM) while the
lowest was in control. Singh et al. (2013) and Swati
and Singh (2018) also reported similar results in
soybean.
Site specific nutrient management (N43 P43 K50)
proved to be the best treatment in enhancing the yield
and monetary returns of soybean. The recommended
dose of nutrients (N20P60K40) and farm yard manure @
5t/ha proved to be the second and third best treatment,
respectively.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author is highly thankful to ICAR-Indian
Institute of Soybean Research (IISR), Indore, India for
providing financial support for conducting this field
experiment at Genetics and Plant Breeding Research
Farm, Palampur, India.
REFERENCES
Anonymous. 2016. Indian Institute of Soybean Research
209
(IISR) https://iisrindore.icar.gov.in/pdfdoc/
soybeanmonitorsep2017.pdf
Billore SD and Srivastava SK. 2015. Integrated nutrient
management in soybean varieties grown under
different agro-climatic conditions of India. Soybean
Research 13(2): 26-42.
Gomez K A and Gomez AA. 1984. Statistical procedure for
agricultural research. 2nd edition. Wiley Inter Science,
New York, USA. p 680.
Hellal FA and Abdelhamid MT. 2013. Nutrient
management practices for enhancing soybean (Glycine
Max) production. Actabiologica Colomiana 18(2): 239-
250.
Imran JN and Khan, AAAA. 2017. Grain yield, yield
attributes of wheat and soil physiochemical
characteristics influenced by biochar, compost and
inorganic fertilizer application. Agricultural Research
and Technology: Open Access Journal 10: 555-795.
Kauraw DL, Dwivedi AK and Chauhan SS. 2007. Influence
of long-term use of organic fertilizers on soybean-
wheat productivity in vertisols. International
Conference on Sustainable Agriculture for Food,
Bioenergy and Livelihood Security, JNKVV, Jabalpur.
p 43.
Patil AG, Halepyati AS and Chittapur BM. 2016. Influence
of site-specific nutrient management on growth and
yield of soybean in north eastern transitional zone of
Karnataka. Supplement on Agronomy 11(4): 2651-2654.
Patil DH, Shankar MA, Krishnamurthy N, Shadakshari
YG and Parama VR. 2018. Studies on site specific
nutrient management (SSNM) on growth and yield of
groundnut (Arachis and hypogaea) under irrigation in
southern Karnataka. Legume Research 41(5): 728-733.
Rana R and Badiyala. 2014. Effect of integrated nutrient
management on seed yield, quality and nutrient uptake
of soybean (Glycine max) under mid hill conditions of
Himachal Pradesh. Indian Journal of Agronomy 59(4):
641-645.
Singh R, Sharma HB, Kumar P, Paliwal DK and Kumar P.
2013. Effect of integrated nutrient management on
growth, yield and nutrient uptake by soybean (Glycine
max) cultivars. Indian Journal of Agronomy 58(3): 379-
383.
Swati and Singh J. 2018. Productivity and profitability of
soybean (Glycine maxL.) as influenced by different
fertility levels and seed rates under mid-hill conditions
of Himachal Pradesh. Indian Journal of Agronomy
63(3): 388-390.
210 Journal
Journal of Food Legumes 33(3), 2020of Food Legumes 33(3): 210-211, 2020

Commentary
Genetic improvement for smarter pulses: Need of the hour
NP SINGH

ICAR - Indian Institute of Pulses With more than 31 years’ experience in research and
Research, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India management, Dr N P Singh is a pioneer in integrating
*E-mail: npsingh.iipr@gmail.com biotechnological tools for pulses improvement in the
country. He started his research career as a plant breeder
in ICAR-IIPR in 1987, joined as Project Coordinator,
AICRP-Chickpea in 2007 and is now leading the Indian
Institute of Pulses Research as Director since 2014. Dr
Singh has to his credit 14 varieties in different pulses,
the first draft chickpea genome, the MAB product for
Fusarium wilt resistance (Foc race 2) and drought
tolerance in chickpea and the Seed Hub programme of
the nation to name a few. Dr Singh developed several ideas, concepts and
processes which are appreciated worldwide and attracted funds. Development
of extra-large seeded kabuli chickpea varieties (which transformed the country
from net importer to net exporter of premier quality product), development of
extra short duration (52-55 days maturity) mungbean (which brought substantial
area of mungbean under summer fallows in Indo-gangetic plain), and
application of molybdenum in soybean-chickpea system (for sustainability of
system by enhancing Biological Nitrogen Fixation in Central India including
Maharashtra) are few examples. His vision and efforts have been ground
breaking and have aided to bring the nation to achieve self-sufficiency in pulses
production. He is recipient of numerous national and international awards.

Encompassing high protein content and fifteen
essential minerals, pulses are one of the most important
constituents of cereal-based vegetarian diets of the
Indian subcontinent. Though pulse production has
witnessed a mammoth leap within recent years to reach
a record production of 25.42 MT in 2017-18, sustaining
to 22-24 MT thereafter which is higher by 8-9 MT than
the last decade, the demand and supply gap still exists
and needs to be bridged.
The effective area under pulses cultivation in the
country is estimated at about 25-26 million hectares
while the realized productivity is less than 1 ton per
hectare. Shortfall in pulses has been attributed to a
number of factors, the major being ever-increasing
population, dependency on climate and abrupt
climatic changes, geographical shift in the area,
complex disease-pest syndrome, socio-economic
conditions of the farmers, poor storage and post harvest
management infrastructure and less market
opportunities. The major constraints that limit the
realization of potential yield of pulses include biotic
and abiotic stresses prevalent in the pulses-growing
areas besides socio-economic factors. Among biotic
stresses, Fusarium wilt coupled with root rot complex
is probably the most widespread disease causing
substantial losses to chickpea, besides dry root rot and
collar rot. While Fusarium wilt, sterility mosaic and
Phytophthora blight cause substantial losses in
pigeonpea, lentil, rust, powdery mildew and wilt cause
considerable damage. In Vigna crops (mungbean and
urdbean) mungbean yellow mosaic disease, Cercospora
leaf spot, powdery mildew and leaf crinkle and leaf
curl cause considerable damage. Among key insect-
pests, gram pod borer (Helicoverpa armigera) in chickpea
and pigeonpea, pod fly in pigeonpea, whitefly, jassids
and thrips in mungbean and urdbean cause severe
damage to the respective crops. Bruchids are the most
serious pest of the stored pulse grains and require
topmost priority in management. Weeds also cause
substantial loss to pulses. Recently, nematodes have
emerged as potential threat to the successful cultivation
of pulses in many areas.
Among abiotic stresses, drought and high
temperature at terminal stage, cold as well as sudden
drop in temperature coupled with fog during the
reproductive phase and salinity/alkalinity
throughout the crop period inflict major yield losses
and instability in production. All these stresses make
 Janardan Singh : Site-specific nutrient management in soybean
pulse crops less productive with unstable performance
in one or the other way. These constraints have been
further aggravated by poor technology transfer. There
is a huge gap between the potential yield and the yield
realized in farmers fields and has been demonstrated
well by frontline demonstration suggesting the need
of development of new technology transfer models for
making the farmers adopt latest technologies of pulses
production.
In order to ensure self sufficiency, pulse
requirement in the country is projected at 39 million
tonnes by the year 2050 which necessitates an annual
growth rate of 2.2%. This requires a phenomenal shift
in research, technology generation and dissemination,
211
and commercialization along with capacity building
in frontier areas of research. To achieve the targets in a
specified time frame, vertical as well as horizontal
expansion of pulses is required which envisages a
three dimensional strategy targeting increase in
productivity, increase in area under pulses and
shortening of crop duration so as to fit pulses in
multiple cropping systems. There is equal need to
integrate the modern tools of genetic improvement like
genomic selection, molecular breeding and genome
editing and amalgate them with conventional breeding
techniques to develop multiple stress tolerant smart
pulse cultivars that are required in the reigning climate
change regime.
 Journal of Food Legumes 33(3): 212, 2020

List of Referees for Vol. 33(3)

1. Dr. A.R. Sharma, RLBCAU, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh

2. Dr. Baldev Ram, Agriculture University, Kota

3. Dr. Ummed Singh, Jodhpur

4. Dr. Guriqbal Singh, PAU, Ludhiana

5. Dr. Amarender Reddy, ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad

6. Dr. M.S. Meena, Jodhpur

7. Dr. Mohd. Akram, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur

8. Dr. Muraleedhar Aski, ICAR-IARA, New Delhi

9. Dr. Gayacharan Chakravarty, ICAR –NBPGR, New Delhi

10. Dr. Jayamani P., Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore

11. Dr. Jitendra Kumar, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur

12. Dr. Rahul M. Wadaskar, PDKV Maharashtra

13. Dr. Harsh Dixit, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi

14. Dr. Narendra Kumar, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur

15. Dr. Uma Sah, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur

Proof Readers for Vol. 33(3)

1. Dr. Shanmugavadivel P.S., ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur

2. Dr. A.K. Srivastava, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur

3. Dr. C.P. Nath, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur