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ThesisItem Open Access Effect of sowing time on summer pulse(s) in lowland rice fallows(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Central Agricultural University , Imphal, 2018-03) Mayanglambam, Bishonath Singh; A. K. SinghPulses are the second important group of crops after cereals, providing high dietary protein (20 to 25 %). In NER of India, farmers mostly go for monocropping of rainfed rice. Due to various reasons such as cultivation of long-duration rice varieties, water logging and excessive moisture, non-availability of seeds of short duration varieties of Rabi crops, more than 5 lakh ha of such low lying area remain as rice fallows after harvest of rice during Rabi season. Such fallow land can be brought under cultivation, with short duration varieties of summer pulses. To identify suitable summer pulse(s) for low landrice fallow and to determine their optimum sowing date, the current study was undertaken. Higher grain yield of all the summer pulses was obtained when sowing was done on 4th March and it got reduced with either early (19th and 26th February) or late sowing (11th March). Lower grain yield of cowpea was recorded when sown on 26thFebruary over all other dates of sowing (19th February, 4th March and 11th March) while, in frenchbean lower grain yield was recorded when sown on 11th March. Both blackgram and greengram recorded lower grain yield when sown on 19th February. The comparative performance of summer pulses was assessed in term of rice equivalent yield, protein yield,benefit cost ratio (B:C) and changes in soil fertility status after crop harvest. French bean gave higher rice equivalent yield over all summer pulses in all sowing dates, except on 11thMarch where cowpea while, being at par with frenchbean recorded higher rice equivalent yield. Among summer pulses greengram recorded lower rice equivalent yield at all date of sowing. Sowing on 4th March gave higher rice equivalent yield in all summer pulses; minimum rice equivalent yield was recorded when sowing was done on 11th March. Similarly higher protein yield and B:C was recorded when summer pulses were sown on 4th March. Minimum protein yield was recorded from 19th February sowing while, lower B: C ratio was recorded from both 19th February and 11th March sowing. Among summer pulses cowpea gave maximum protein yield over all the summer pulses in all date of sowing, except on 26th February where frenchbean while, being at par with cowpea gave higher protein yield. Greengram recorded minimum protein yield in all dates of sowing. Benefit cost ratio of all summer pulses was found to be higher when sowing was done on 4thMarch while, lower B: C was recorded from both 19th February and 11th March sowing dates. Maximum benefit cost ratio was recorded from cowpea in all dates of sowing, except on 26th March where frenchbean gave higher benefit cost ratio. Cowpea also left higher residual soil available N, P and K as compared to other summer pulses. Hence it can be concluded that cowpea perform better over other pulses followed by frenchbean and their optimum sowing date is 4th March.ThesisItem Open Access Response of lowland rice cultivars to nitrogen application-A modelling approach(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Central Agricultural University , Imphal, 2017-08) Kant, Kamal; Bora, Pradip K.A field experiment was conducted the Research Farm of College of Post-Graduate Studies, Umiam, Meghalaya during kharif season of 2016 following Factorial Randomised Block Design with three replications. The soil of the experimental site was sandy clay loam soil in texture having pH 4.82 and organic carbon 3.28%. The available N, P and K was 359.9, 17.6 and 196.4 kg ha-1, respectively. Three rice cultivars (CAU-R1, Shahsarang1 and Lumpnah1) were grown with four nitrogen levels (60, 80, 100 and 120 kgN ha-1) for the study. Data generated in the study were used for calculation of genetic coefficients and calibration of DSSAT CERES-Rice model. Shahsarang1 recorded significantly higher plant height over the CAU-R1and at par with Lumpnah1. A significant difference was observed in tillers per hill at 60, 90DAT and at harvest. Shahsarang1 was significantly superior over Lumpnah1 and at par with CAU-R1 at 90 DAT and at harvest. The dry weight of biomass in Shahsarang1 showed significant superiority at 90 DAT and at harvest over other two varieties. At 30 DAT Shahsarang1 showed significant difference between CAU-R1 and at par with Lumpnah1.Leaf area and leaf area index showed significant superiority of Shahsarang1 over CAU-R1at all the stages of observation and at par with Lumpnah1 at 90 DAT. Shahsarang1recorded highest panicle length over Lumpnah1 and at par with CAU-R1. Test weight was maximum in CAU-R1 which was significantly higher over Shahsarang1 and at par withLumpnah1. Highest grain yield and above-ground-biomass yield were obtained from Shahsarang1 which was significantly superior over Lumpnah1 and CAU-R1, Grain yield of CAU-R1 was at par with Shahsarang1. Total N and K uptake in grain, straw were maximumin Shahsarang1 following by CAU-R1 and Lumpnah1. Production of tillers per hill varied significantly due to nitrogen levels at 60 DAT and at harvest. Successive increase in nitrogen level produced significantly more number of tillers and leaf area. At 30 DAT and 60 DAT, 120 kg N ha-1 showed significantlyhigher leaf area over the 60 and 80 kg N ha-1 and at par with 100 kg N ha-1. However, most of the growth parameters had not shown statistically significant difference but increased with each level of nitrogen resulting increase in plant height, tillers hill-1, leaf area, leaf area index and dry matter production, CGR, RGR and higher values were recorded at 120 kg N ha-1 compared to 60 kg N ha-1. Number of filled grain panicle-1 was highest at 120 kg N ha-1which was significantly superior over 60 kg N ha-1. However, Nitrogen level 120 kg ha-1 at par with 100 and 80 kg N ha-1. Nitrogen levels significantly affected the potassium uptake by grain and total potassium uptake. Nitrogen levels of 120 kg ha-1 recorded significantly more potassium uptake in grain which was at par with 100 kg N ha-1 but significantly superior over 80 kg ha-1 and 60 N kg ha-1. Due to nitrogen levels soil organic carbon showed the significant difference. Highest soil organic carbon was obtained from the nitrogen level at 80 kg ha-1 which was superior over the N level of 120 kg ha-1 and at par with 100 and 60 kg N ha-1. Genetic coefficients were calculated from the field experiment data and used for the calibration of the CERES-Rice model. Predicted grain yield and above ground biomass yield was well agreed with observed yield, but anthesis day and maturity day were underestimated by the model for CAU-R1 and Lumpnah1. For Shahsarang1, all the parameters, viz. predicted anthesis day, maturity day, grain yield and above ground biomass yield were much close to the observed yield.ThesisItem Open Access Effect of climate change on the performance of lowland rice (Oryza sativa L.) under N- levels through DSSAT CERES- rice model(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU, Imphal, 2018) Lampung, Tage; Bora, P. K.A field experiment was carried out during the kharif season 2017 at the experimental farm of the College of Post Graduate Studies (CAU, Imphal). The experiment was conducted in Two Factorial Randomized Block Design with 4 replications for 3 rice cultivars (CAU R1, Shahsarang1, Lumpnah1) under different N levels (80, 100, 120 and140 kg ha-1). Agronomic data were recorded throughout the crop growth period. Daily weather data related to the minimum and maximum temperature, rainfall and solar radiation were collected from the nearest meteorological station at ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam, Meghalaya. The study was undertaken to validate CERES-Rice model, to conduct model sensitivity analysis to nitrogen levels and to study the impact of climate change on the yield of rice. The results showed that all the growth parameters viz., plant height, tillers hill-1, dry matter production, Leaf Area Index (LAI), growth indices like Crop Growth Rate (CGR), Relative Growth Rate (RGR) improved with succession of crop growth period i.e. 30-90 days after transplanting (DAT) as well as at harvest. Among cultivars, Shahsarang1 recorded significantly higher plant height, dry matter production, LAI, CGR, RGR, yield and yield attributes over Lumpnah1 and CAU-R1. Among different nitrogen levels, significantly higher magnitude of above parameters were found at 140 kg N ha-1 followed by 120, 100 and 80 kg N ha-1. Shahsarang1 was found to be the better performer interms of growth and yield over other two cultivars viz. Lumpnah1 and CAU-R1. The CERES-Rice model has been validated against the observed data (days to physiological maturity, grain yield and tops weight) recorded during kharif season 2017 for which model was calibrated in an experiment in 2016. Simulated values for different cultivars under varied nitrogen levels were in close agreement with observed values.The validation result was further supported by the statistical results where the per cent difference between observed and simulated values for various growth and yield parameters were well within the acceptable range of ±15%, with R2 values above 0.9, low root mean square error (RMSE) and d-stat values greater than 0.5 except for maturitydays. The validated CERES-Rice model was then run for local sensitivity analysis where the sensitivity with respect to levels of nitrogen was considered. The model was found to be behaving satisfactorily to nitrogen levels for CAU-R1 and Shahsarang1 but not for Lumpnah1 cultivar of rice. Further calibration of Lumpnah1 may be required with crop data of few more years. At current CO2 conc. decrease in rainfall average to -19% and -50% increased the grain yield by 0.3-18.7% while increase in average rainfall to +19 and +50% reduced the grain yield by -6.2 to -12.6%. However, for all change in temperature (±10C, ±20C and±30 C), reduction in grain yield by -1.4 to -43.1% was recorded. At 450 ppm CO2 conc. Increase in grain yield by 1.3-10.6% was obtained for all rainfall regimes. Similarly, for all changes in temperature scenario grain yield was increased by 1.6-8.9% except for 120 and 80 kg N level where the grain yield was reduced by 0.2 and 1.6%. Similar result was recorded for change in rainfall and temperature where the grain yield increased by 3.2-14.9% and 2-13% respectively. As for the combination, highest increase and decrease in grain yield at 450 ppm was reported for +1oC and +50% and -2oC and +50% of average rainfall, respectively. At 500 ppm, highest increase and decrease in grain yield was reported for +1oC and -50% and -2oC and +50% of average rainfall, respectively. However, at -3oC reduction in temperature, no grain was produced for all the cases. It was due to the drop of minimum temperature to lower than 150C at reproduction stages of the crops.ThesisItem Open Access Dynamics of mineralization of crop residues under baby corn- baby corn system(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU Imphal., 2018) Roy, Shreyosi; Ram, VishramMaize (Zea mays L.) is the third most important cereal crop next to rice and wheat in India. It covers area of 8.85 M ha with the production and productivity of 22.84 M t and 2.58 t ha-1, respectively (Agricultural Statistics, 2016). In North Eastern Hill Region maize is the second most important food crop next to rice and grown in 17.4 lakh ha area with the production and productivity of 26.5 lakh tones and 1.5 t ha-1, respectively (AgriculturalStatistics, 2015). Being a C4 plant, maize is an efficient converter of food and also considered as a ‘Miracle crop’ due to its immense potential yield. It is grown with equal success in temperate, subtropical and tropical regions of the world in more than 130 countries. It is of great importance for both the human and animal feeding. Baby corn (Zeamays L.) is a vegetable taken from sweet corn or standard maize (corn) plants, which is harvested early, while the ears are very small, immature and just after the emergence of white silk (2-3 cm length). Its miniature size is as appealing as its taste, colour and crunch. Baby corn cultivation provides tremendous avenues for crop diversification, crop intensification, value addition and revenue generation. Despite of its better economic return and increasing demand in international market, the cultivation of baby corn faced some constraints. One of them are nutrient management. Maize is an exhaustive crop and requires a balanced supply of all nutrients. But availability of required fertilizer in NER is very less and application of inorganic fertilizers also discouraged due to organic farming policy in NER of India. The areas like North Eastern region of India and other hilly areas, where a lot of biomass is available from forest, weeds, crops etc. organic farming would be more economical. Sometimes local people burn the forest area which not only waste the available environmental resources but also pollute the environment and disturb the different biological cycles occurring in that eco-system. The use of crop residues as mulches is an important agriculture practice in some parts of India. As North Eastern Hill region is now comes under organic farming zones, we should look for alternative nutrient supply such as crop residues, weed biomasses and other organic plant and animal waste products. Crop residues can be used as organic mulches or be incorporated into the soil because these residues improve soil fertility. These residues contain essential plant nutrients which are released as plant available forms during residue decomposition. Decomposition and nutrient release patterns of different organic residues with different ORQI value like rice (4.35), Elusine (4.56), ambrosia (6.04), groundnut (9.16) and mixed weed biomass (4.90) were investigated under field conditions, using litterbags which allowed access of soil fauna. The decomposition rate constants ranged from 0.007 to 0.023 Days-1, decreasing in the following order; Groundnut > mixed weed biomass >ambrosia > elusine > rice residue. Negative relationships were observed between decomposition rate constants and C:N ratio, percent lignin and polyphenol content of plant residues. A positive relationship was observed between decomposition rate constant.These results indicate that both the chemical composition of plant residues and nature of the decomposer played an important role in plant residue decomposition. Nutrient release differed with quality of plant residues and there nutrient mineralization rate constant. For N and P release the mineralization constant vary from 0.018 to 0.034 Day-1 and 0.11 to 0.033 day-1, respectively and release of nutrient from organic residues were in following order; For N: groundnut> Ambrosia> mixed weed biomass> elusine> rice and for P: groundnut>ambrosia=mixed weed biomass> elusine> rice residue. Groundnut could therefore improve the nutrition of fast growing and nutrient exhaustive crop like baby corn whereas rice straw would rather play a role in the build-up of soil organic matter in the long term and provide nutrient to long duration crop or in a cropping system.ThesisItem Open Access Development of nitrogen dilution curve for baby corn based on leaf and plant dry matter(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU, Imphal, 2018) Laishram, Shayana; Ram, VishramMaize (Zea mays L.) is the third most important cereal crop next to rice and wheat in India, second most important crop in Meghalaya. Baby corn maize is one of the valued vegetables gaining popularity throughout the world. Baby corn is the ear of maize plant harvested young especially when silks have either emerged or no fertilization has taken place, depending on the cultivar grown. Baby corn is a low calorie vegetable, low-carbohydrate, high fibre and fat free vegetable. Baby corn has low glycemic index than regular corn and good for controlling blood sugar levels. It is also called as “miracles crop” and also “queen of cereals” due to its immense potential yield. N plays an important role in increasing growth and development of plants, being a constituent of protein and it increases the food value. Nitrogen dose have distinct relationship between leaf area index and its productivity. Most of N fertilizers are water soluble, mobile and more losses that need to N management for improving N use efficiency and crop yields. Optimizing the quantity of N required at each crop growth stage is critical for increasing baby corn yield, improving agronomic N use efficiency (NUE) and environmental sustainability. Accurate diagnosis of nitrogen (N) fertilizer required for crop growth can serve as a guide for N management by improving N use efficiency and baby corn yields. The critical N concentration (Nc), the minimum N required for maximal crop growth has been widely used to determine crop N status. From the experimental finding application of N4 (80 kg N ha-1) produced the maximum LAI, dry matter production of baby corn and also CGR, RGR and NAR of baby corn. The chlorophyll and SPAD value increased with the increasing N levels and significantly higher values were observed with N6 (120 kg N ha-1). Application of N4 (80 kg N ha-1) produced the maximum yield of baby corn as well as green fodder compared to other treatment. In dilution curve based on plant dry matter (PDM) and plant nitrogen concentration (PNC) , the strongest relationship was found with R2 values of 0.98 and 0.99 were observed at knee high and tasseling stages of baby corn. Whereas, leaf dry matter (LDM) and leaf nitrogen concentration (LNC), the strongest relationship was found with R2 values of 0.98 and 0.99 at seedling growth and knee high stages for baby corn in kharif and post kharif season, respectively. In normalised spad index (NSI), the strongest relationship was found with R2 values of 0.96 and 0.99 were observed at early vegetative and knee high stages for baby corn in kharif and post kharif season, respectively.ThesisItem Open Access Simulating effect of climate change on growth and yield of maize under varying N-application in the sub-tropical hills of Meghalaya(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU, Imphal, 2018) Rangsa Marak, Mesaya; Bora, P. K.A field experiment was conducted at the Research Farm of Water Management Division, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam, Meghalaya, during kharif season of 2017, following Randomized Block Design with six replications. The soil of the experimental site was sandy loam in texture having pH 4.6 and organic carbon 2.03%. The available N, P and K were 274.40, 12.14 and 214.70 kg ha-1, respectively. Maize Cv. RCM 76 was grown with four nitrogen levels (0, 60, 80 and 100 kg ha-1) for the study. Data generated were used for calibration and simulation of DSSAT CERES-Maize model to simulate the possible impact of climate change scenarios w.r.t future rainfall, temperature and CO₂ on growth and yield of maize under different N-levels for the Maize Cv. RCM 76. Maize Cv. RCM 76 showed significantly higher plant height and leaf area with each successive increase in nitrogen levels which in turn brought a significant increase in cob yield, stover yield as well as biological yield per hectare. Plant height and leaf area were recorded to be significantly higher at 100 kg N ha-1 over the other treatments, although other growth parameters like CGR and RGR, statistically showed no significant difference. Likewise, the grain yield, stover yield and biological yield also increased with the increase in nitrogen levels. The yield was significantly higher at 100kg N ha-1 as compared to the other nitrogen levels (0-60 kg ha-1). Validation of the CERES-Maize model with 2017 experimental data set was done and the model was run for six years (2012 to 2017), to generate simulated yield, biomass and days to physiological maturity for a comparatively longer period of recent time and comparison of them with values simulated under different projected scenarios. Highest simulated grain yield was recorded at 125% RD level (2085 kg ha-1), followed by RD (2072 kg ha-1), 75% RD (2031 kg ha-1) and control (1148 kg ha-1). In case of simulated biomass highest value was recorded at 125% RD (9262 kg ha-1) followed by 75% RD (9077 kg ha-1) and control (6123 kg ha-1). It was observed that at -1ºC and ±19% and ±50% average rainfall, grain yield increased by 3.9-18% at fertilized treatments, while at control, the grain yield reduced by 0.7% and 9.4% (at +19% and+50% of average rainfall) and increased by 13.1% and 13.4%( at -19% and -50% of average rainfall). At +1ºC and ±19% and ±50% average rainfall, grain yield reduced by 3.9-18% at fertilized treatments, while at control, the grain yield reduced by 1.4% and 4.2% (at -19% and -50% of average rainfall) and by 10.5% and 18% (at +19% and +50% average rainfall). At -2ºC and ±19% average rainfall, grain yield increased by 16.9-24.5% (at fertilized treatments) and 20.2% and 4.3% (at control). At -2ºC and ±50% average rainfall, grain yield reduced by 6.5-10.8% (at fertilized treatments) and 10.3-21% (at control). At +2ºC and ±19% average rainfall, grain yield reduced by 5.6-7.9% and at ±50% average rainfall, it reduced by 5.4-10.8 (at fertilized treatments) and 6.1% and 13.9% at ±19% and 9.3% and 21% at ± 50% (at control). At -3ºC and ±19% and -50% average rainfall, grain yield increased by 14.7-27.8% (at fertilized treatments) and 20.2% and 26.6 % ( at control). At +3ºC and ±19% and ± 50% average rainfall, grain yield reduced by 3-5.8% (at fertilized treatments) and 2.3% and 17.1 % (at control).ThesisItem Open Access Agronomic evaluation of rice cultivars under delayed transplanting condition in midhills of Meghalaya(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural sciences, CAU , Imphal, 2018) Singh, Laishram Platini; Singh, A. K.Rice (Oryza sativa) is most important food crop of NEH region of India including the state of Meghalaya. Low level of rice productivity associated with its mono cropping make the state dependent on others to meet its food grain requirement particularly the rice, a staple food crop of the state. Hence, increasing the production of rice in the state either through area expansion or productivity enhancement is an urgent requirement. Many low lying fields may occupy under various summer crops and vacated very late by beginning of August onwards. Because of excess rains accompanied with poor drainage, these fields are not suitable for any other late season kharif or even the subsequent rabi crops except rice during next summer or kharif season. These fields can be targeted for late season kharif rice immediate after harvest of summer crops if the seedlings of short to medium duration rice varieties, having ability to adjust in the available rice growing season along with reasonable economic yields is ready for transplanting. Even short to medium duration rice varieties may need to identify for certain unseen condition like very late onset of monsoons in the present climatic scenario. Hence, farmer should have an alternative to choose the right varieties of rice for available growing period under delayed transplanting condition. Hence, present experiment was conducted during later part of kharif 2017 at the experimental field of College of Post Graduate Studies (CAU-I), Umiam to find out the last possible date of rice transplanting with suitable high yielding short duration cultivars. The experiment was conducted in split plot design consisting of three dates of transplanting (5th August, 2017, 15th August, 2017 and 25th August, 2017) in main plots and three cultivars (CAU-R1, CAU-R3 and ARIZE 6129) in sub plots. Results revealed that both date of transplanting and cultivars significantly influenced plant population, mortality percentage, days taken to heading and physiological maturity, yield attributes, yield and nutrient uptake. Maximum grain yield (1.75 t ha-1) was obtained from D1 which was significantly high over the same recorded from D2 and D3 transplanting dates. Significantly least grain yield was recorded from D3. However, D1 is at par with D2 and both these treatments recorded significantly high biological yield and nutrient uptake over D3 transplanting. Among the three rice cultivars, CAU R3 recorded significantly high panicles hill-1, filled grains hill-1, grain weight plant-1, grain yield (t ha-1), harvest index and uptake of N and P over the same observed from CAU R1 and ARIZE 6129 while CAU R1 proved significantly superior for these parameters over the ARIZE 6129. Soil chemical properties did not change markedly due to either of the treatments. Significant interaction between cultivars andplanting time revealed that CAU R3 over CAU R1 gave significantly high grain yield over CAUR3 and ARIZE 6129 while CAU R1 was significantly superior over ARIZE 6129 over on all three planting dates. Maximum net return and B: C ratio was obtained when CAU R3 was transplanted on 5th August 2017 (D1) which was seconded by CAU R1 on the same date of transplanting. CAU R3 gave reasonable return on 15th August, 2017 (D2) transplanting too. Both CAU R 3 and CAU R1 gave negative return on 25th August transplanting while net return from ARIZE 6129 was negative on all three transplanting dates. From the present investigation it could be concluded that CAU R3 is a good rice cultivar for delayed transplanting of rice upto 15th August if such lowland rice land is available for this purpose.ThesisItem Open Access Evaluation of sweet corn hybrids under varied date of sowing in mid hill of Meghalaya / by Sidhartha Priyatam(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU-Imphal, Umiam, 2019) Priyatam, Sidhartha; Ray, Lala I. P.A field experiment was conducted during kharif season of 2018 at the College of Agriculture, Kyrdemkulai, (Central Agricultural University, Imphal), Ri-bhoi district, Meghalaya to evaluate the sweet corn hybrids comprising of various sowing window in mid hill of Meghalaya. The experiment was carried out in a split plot design with three numbers of main- plot treatments, viz., sowing date on 2nd July (S1), 12th July (S2) and 22nd July (S3) four numbers of sub- plot treatments, viz., ASKH-1 (V1), ASKH-4 (V2), ASKH-6 (V3) and SWEET-77 (V4) and replicated thrice. In context to growth parameters, viz., plant height, leaf area, and biomass accumulation S1 and V3 registered the uppermost value followed by S2 and S3 among the main- plot treatments and V1, V4 and V2 among the sub-plot treatments. Interaction effect of sowing dates and hybrid on dry matter accumulation per plant (g) was found to be significant at 30, 45 and 60 DAS. The highest biomass was exhibited by S1V3 (13.13g) followed by S1V1 (11.03g) and S2V3 (9.07g) at 30 DAS. Similar trend of interaction continued up to 60 DAS. The mean number of days for 50% tasseling and silking was 60.25 and 65.75 days, respectively with (S1) and it was statistically at par with (S2). The highest number of days for attaining tasseling and silking was observed by (V3) and was at par with AKSH-1. There was no significant difference among the sowing dates in regard to crop growth rate except at 30-45 DAS. At 30-45 DAS (S1) witnessed for highest crop growth rate followed by (S2) and (V3) reported significantly more crop growth rate of 1.20, 4.24, 0.96 mg cm-2 day-1 at 30-45, 45-60 and 60-75 DAS, respectively. Interaction effect at 45-60 DAS stated that S1V3 recorded highest CGR (129.37 mg cm-2 day-1). RGR was significantly varied in both main plot and sub plot treatments only at 30-45 DAS and among the hybrids (V2) noted the highest relative growth rate and (V3) recorded the lowest relative growth rate. In regards to yield attributes the highest cob numbers per plant (1.20), cob length (16.29 cm) cob weight (113.53) and cob diameter (6.02) was recorded by S1. Similarly, V3 (1.29) registered higher cob number, cob length (15.94 cm) and cob weight (110.87) and was followed by V1, V4 and V2. Among the main-plot treatments (S2) (6.59 t ha-1) exhibited highest grain yield and stover yield (9.97 t ha-1) was significantly superior over remaining treatments. While, among the sub-plot treatments (V3) witnessed significantly highest cob yield with (6.20 t ha-1) followed by (V1) (5.60 t ha-1), (V4)) (4.89 tha-1) and (V2) (4.40 t ha-1). The interaction effect of sowing dates and hybrids revealed that treatment combination S1 V3 (7.26 t ha-1) gave the highest cob yield followed by S1V1 (6.73 t ha-1). Between the sowing dates S1 (11.50%) registered highest amount of TSS. Whereas, (V3) recorded both highest amount of TSS (10.88%) and protein (10.44%) which was found to be nearly equal with (V1) followed by (V4). Among the sub-plot treatments highest nitrogen, phosphorous, and potash concentration were listed by (V3) (1.67, 0.25 and 1.27%, respectively) which were significantly greater over V2 (1.63, 0.21, and 1.23%, respectively). Both main plot and sub-plot treatments reported significant difference with respect to uptake of N, P2O5 and K2O (kg ha-1) in sweet corn. Among the sowing dates and hybrids, highest nitrogen uptake was resulted by (S1) (40.43 kg ha-1) and (V3) (39.17 kg ha-1). Whereas, in case of P2O5 and K2O uptake by sweet corn grain followed similar trends in both main-plot and sub-plot treatments. Total cost of cultivation was lower in S3 as compared to S1 and S2. The highest cost of cultivation was in (V4). The highest gross return, net return and B: C ratio was reported by S1 and V3.ThesisItem Open Access Performance of black gram (Vigna mungo L. hepper) with organic amendments under mid hills of Meghalaya(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU-Imphal, Umiam, 2019) R. S., Dhivya; Ray, Lala I. P.Pulses contribute a low-cost protein diet in addressing the national food security mission. In North East region, it is not yet getting momentum. In Meghalaya, pulses are cultivated in an area of 8,214 ha with the pulses production of 12,108 t. The pulses per capita availability is 20 g day-1 as against a requirement of 34 g day-1 in North East region (Das et al 2016). To bridge the gap of this requirement pulses production needs to be increased. For better crop emergence, seed priming along with organic inputs like manures and mulches improves the growth and yield by enhancing the nutrient uptake by the plants from soil and improves the fertility of soil. As North East region is moving towards the conventional organic farming, the usage of different organic sources in black gram production needs to be addressed. Keeping this in mind, an experiment has been conducted during 2018-19 at the experimental field of College of Agriculture, Kyrdemkulai, Meghalaya to study the effect or influence of organic amendments on performance of black gram along with economics and also to assess the apparent soil nutrient balance for nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) under different organic sources. The experimental design applied was RBD (Randomized Block Design) with 12 different treatments viz., T1 – FYM, T2 - FYM+ Mulch, T3 - FYM+ SP (FYM L) + Mulch, T4 - Pig manure, T5 - Pig manure + Mulch, T6 - Pig manure + SP (PM L) + Mulch, T7 - Poultry Manure, T8 - Poultry Manure + Mulch, T9 - Poultry Manure + SP (PoM L) + Mulch, T10 – Control, T11 - Control + Mulch and T12 - Control + SP (Water) + Mulch. From the experimental results, maximum crop growth parameters and higher yield (1045.13 kg ha-1) was registered under T9 followed by T8 (961.79 kg ha-1) with the harvest index of 30.25 and 28.88% respectively. The higher net return of Rs. 43,196.87 was obtained under T9 with BCR of 2.09. Thus, the organic amendments (seed priming, mulching and manuring) greatly influenced the crop growth and yield of black gram and also the economics. The apparent N and P balance was estimated and observed that the apparent N balance i.e. gain in N, N build up at 0-15 cm was higher under T9 (42.32 kg ha-1) and T6 (35.81 kg ha-1) and at 15-30 cm T9 (57.09 kg ha-1) is followed by T8 (48.31 kg ha-1). In P balance, the P loss was found under T10 (2.90 and 1.63 kg ha-1 at 0-15 and 15-30 cm respectively) and in all the other treatments there was gain i.e. no loss in P was found and was higher under T9 (13.64 kg ha-1) followed by T3 (12.40 kg ha-1) at 0-15 cm and at 15-30 cm, T9 (17.41 kg ha-1) and T8 (16.49 kg ha-1) had the maximum P gain. The results of nutrient balance revealed that poultry manure had the maximum gain in nitrogen and phosphorus followed by pig manure and FYM along with mulching. Therefore, poultry manure (8 t ha-1), maize stover mulch (5 t ha-1) and seeds primed with liquid wash of poultry manure can be recommended for higher yield in black gram and maintaining the soil nutrient balance followed by pig manure and FYM. Therefore, poultry manure may be preferred over the others.
