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Moisture and nutrient management in greengram (Vigna radiata) - mustard (Brassica juncea) cropping system under limited moisture conditions

KrishiKosh

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Title Moisture and nutrient management in greengram (Vigna radiata) - mustard (Brassica juncea) cropping system under limited moisture conditions
Ph.D.
 
Creator Hari Om
 
Contributor K. S. Rana
 
Subject Land configuration, Nitrogen, Phosphorous, PSM, Yield attributes, Yield, Wateruse efficiency, Greengram
 
Description T-8814
The field experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of moisture conservation
practices and nutrient management under rainfed conditions on sandy loam soil at research
farm of Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, in 2010 and 2011. The treatment
comprised of four land configurations (Flatbed, flatbed with mulch, ridge-furrow and
broadbed-furrow) and three fertility levels (Control, 15 kg N + 30 kg P2O5/ha and 15 kg N
+30 kg P2O5/ha + PSM) as main plot replicated thrice in factorial randomized block design.
The growth parameter was found maximum and significant in broadbed-furrow and ridgefurrow
over flatbed with mulch and flatbed but difference between broadbed-furrow and
ridge-furrow and flatbed with mulch and flatbed were on par. Difference between 15 kg N +
30 kg P2O5/ha + PSM and 15 kg N + 30 kg P2O5/ha were not significantly increased the
growth parameter but both were significant over control. Broadbed-furrow and ridge-furrow
were significant over flatbed with mulch and flatbed while difference between broadbedfurrow
and ridge-furrow, and flatbed with mulch and flatbed were nonsignificant in terms of
yield attributes and yield. There was no significant difference between 15 kg N + 30 kg P2O5
+ PSM and 15 kg N + 30 kg P2O5/ha but these were significant to control in terms of yield
attributes and yield. The consumptive use and water-use efficiency were found to be highest
with broadbed-furrow while lowest with flatbed. This was also highest with the application of
15 kg N + 30 kg P2O5 + PSM and lowest with control.
Key words: Land configuration, Nitrogen, Phosphorous, PSM, Yield attributes, Yield, Wateruse
efficiency, Greengram
Introduction
Indian agriculture virtually depends on the monsoon and small farmers rely on rains to
irrigate their fields. Dryland and rainfed agriculture has a distinct place in Indian agriculture,
occupying around 76.76 m ha area (54.82 %) out of 140.02 m ha net cultivated area. Despite
considerable progress in irrigation development since 1950s, 85.6 % of coarse cereals, 83.8 %
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of pulses, 42 % of rice, 74.1 % of oilseeds and 64.7 % of cotton are still cultivated as rainfed
(Anonymous, 2012). Dryland and rainfed agriculture contributes 40 % of food grains
production and supports two third of the livestock population. Dry farming is characterized by
low crop productivity and high variation in yields from year to year mainly due to rainfall
distribution. Moisture stress further affect the nutrient availability to the crop since nutrient
mobility depends on optimum soil moisture. This implies that the country will continue to
grapple with the problems of rainfed agriculture in days to come.
The risk factor can be minimized through in-situ moisture conservation, adoption of
suitable crops and their varieties (Kumar et al., 2008). The short-duration water efficient
genotypes having more elasticity in production are desirable for dryland and rainfed
situations. The effective methods of in-situ water harvesting are summer ploughing, broadbed
-furrows, narrowbed-furrows, ridges-furrows, random tie ridging, compartmental bunding etc.
Ex-situ conservation of excess rain water in storage structures like small farm ponds also
essential to provide protective/supplemental irrigation for survival of crops in drought prone
areas with erratic rainfall.
Efficient use of water and nutrients by improving moisture and nutrient balances, their
availability, infiltration and retention in soils by reducing water losses due to evaporation, and
improving the quality and availability of ground as well as surface water (Sharma et al.,
2005). Application of foliage mulch @ 5.0 t/ha along with soil conditioner (Jalshakti @ 5.0
kg/ha) prolonged the availability of soil moisture to the crop by increasing infiltration and
reducing evaporation from soil (Dhar et al., 2008). Land configuration based management like
ridges-furrows, Furrow irrigated raise bed, broadbed-furrow, bed planting, etc. helps in
retaining of rain water in soil besides safe removal of run-off in case of excess rainfall helps in
increasing crop productivity by 15-30 % in dryland as well as rainfed condition (Thakur et al.,
2011 and Roy and Singh, 2012). Application of 6 % kaolin along with straw mulch results
into higher moisture use efficiency (20.6 %) and productivity (30.6 %) of pearlmillet as
compared to control (Tetarwal and Rana, 2006). Water is being the key input for crop
production in rainfed and dryland areas, therefore there is need to adopt a comprehensive
approach to conserve soil moisture. There is need to adopt effective moisture management
techniques like tillage based interventions, mulching, soil conditioner, anti-transpirant and
land configuration which could sustain the yield besides protecting soil from erosion.
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Dryland areas are not only thirsty but also hungry. Nitrogen and phosphorus are the
major nutrients which play an important role in crop production. The nitrogen recognized as
kingpin to the fertilization programme for higher yield. Nitrogen is an important constituent of
chloroplast which plays in important role in photosynthesis. Phosphorus increases the root
length and root branching which in turn improves moisture utilization under dryland conditions.
Nitrogen and phosphorus are involved in wide range of plant processes from permitting cell
division to the development of plant. Use of bio-inoculant is gaining importance day by day due
to acute energy crisis and high cost of chemical fertilizers. There is good scope of using biofertilizers
to take advantages of nutrient saving and maintaining soil health in an eco-friendly
manner. The PSB produce growth promoting substances, besides enhancing P availability that
influence plant growth.VAM have an important role in efficient use of P-fertilizers and improve
N2-fixation.Thus both nutrients balance the above ground and underground development of
plant. Since only part of the fertilizer applied to the soil is utilized by the crop remaining may be
utilized by succeeding crop but the amount of nutrient left by succeeding crop need to
 
Date 2016-07-30T14:19:43Z
2016-07-30T14:19:43Z
2013
 
Type Thesis
 
Identifier http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/70311
 
Format application/pdf
 
Publisher IARI, DIVISION OF AGRONOMY INDIAN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE NEW DELHI