Drought management options for rainfed pigeonpea in Alfisols.

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted during two kharif seasons in the year 1995–96 in Alfisols at Central research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad. The results indicated that medium duration pigeonpea (LRG-30) recorded higer yield by 70 percent than short duration pigeonpea (ICPL-87) in both rainfed and strees free environments. Among the management practices, stress free pigeonpea on an average, recorded 68 percent additional seed yield compared to rainfed environment. Supplemental irrigation of 5 cm at early (vegetative), mid (flowering) and terminal (pod formation) periods gave 31,42 and 49 percent increased seed yield respectively over rainfed crop. Establishing a soil mulch through additional interculture practices at early and mid stress periods gave yield advantage to an extent of 12 and 19 per cent respectively compared to no soil mulch. Application of additional 10 kg N ha−1 after relieving the moisture stress at vegetative and flowering periods enhanced the seed yields of pigeonpea by 19 and 29 percent respectively compared to control. Thus, yields of rainfed pigeonpea in Alfisols can be stabilized to a certain extent through interculture (low monetary input) during early and mid moisture stress period and by additional nitrogen application (monetary input) after the relief of early and mid stress period.