Effect of FYM, mulching and irrigation scheduling on water use and productivity of Garden pea (Pisum sativum var. Hortense L.) Himachal

Abstract

In order to study the effect of moisture conservation practices and irrigation scheduling on water use and productivity of garden pea, a field experiment was conducted in 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with all possible combinations of three FYM levels viz. no FYM, FYM at the rate of 10 and 20 t ha-1; two mulch levels viz. no mulch and rice straw mulching @ 10 t ha-1 and two irrigation schedules viz. irrigation at IW:CPE ratio of 0.6 and 0.8, replicated thrice. FYM was applied on wet weight basis and mulch was applied on dry weight basis as per the treatments, whereas irrigation was applied as surface irrigation. Results indicated that FYM application at the rate of 20 t ha-1 significantly increased pods plant-1, green pod weight per plant-1, seed weight pod-1, green pod yield hectare-1 and WUE as compared to no FYM. Mulching with rice straw @ 10 t-1 ha increased pods plant-1, green pod weight plant-1, green pod yield hectare-1 and WUE. Irrigation at IW/CPE ratio of 0.8 increased pods plant-1 and green pod weight plant-1 compared to irrigation at IW/CPE ratio of 0.6.