Growth behaviour, productivity and profitability of promising mungbean varieties in semi-arid region of Afghanistan

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out at the Experimental Farm of Afghanistan National Agricultural Sciences and Technology University (ANASTU), Kandahar, Afghanistan during April to June, 2015 to assess the performance of promising mungbean varieties viz. Mai-2008, Mash-2008, NM-94, NM98 and 'Kunduzy' under semi-arid conditions of Kandahar. It was revealed that different varieties showed significant differences for growth, morpho-physiological and yield parameters. Mai-2008 exhibited highest plant height (41.5 cm). Maximum number of primary branches (3.8) was observed in NM-94 followed by Mash-2008 while 'Kunduzy' exhibited minimum number of primary branches per plant. The NM-98 produced highest pod length (10.7 cm) while Mash-2008 produced maximum number of pods plant–1 (25.8), 1000-grains weight and seed yield per plant (9.5 g). The trend of seed yield was Mash-2008>Mai-2008>NM-98>NM-94>Kunduzy, respectively. However, maximum straw yield (5.93 t per ha) was recorded in NM-94. Mash-2008 resulted in higher gross (AFN 1,51,100 per ha) and net returns (AFN 1,24,680 per ha) followed by Mai-2008 while 'Kunduzy' resulted in lowest gross and net returns. Significantly higher B: C ratio was observed in Mash-2008 followed by Mai-2008, NM-94, NM-98, and 'Kunduzy', respectively. Overall, it may be inferred that the Mash-2008 was the best performer w.r.t. growth and yield attributes, seed yield and profitability followed by Mai2008 in semi-arid conditions of Afghanistan