INFLUENCE OF IRRIGATION SCHEDULE AND NITROGEN ON GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF GRAIN AMARANTHUS (Amaranthus hypochondriacus L.) cv. GA-2 UNDER MIDDLE GUJARAT CONDITIONS
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Date
2002
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AAU, Anand
Abstract
A field experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Farm, B. A. College of Agriculture, Gujarat Agricultural University, Anand Campus, Anand during the rabi season of 2001-02 to study the influence of irrigation schedule and nitrogen on growth, yield and quality of grain amaranthus ( Amaranthus hypochondriacus L.) cv. GA-2 under middle Gujarat conditions. The soil of the experimental plot was loamy-sand in texture, having a good drainage, with pH 7.8. The soil was low in organic matter and available nitrogen, while medium in available phosphorus and high in potassium. The experiment comprised combinations of five irrigation schedules based on critical growth stages viz., I1 (irrigations at early vegetative growth, flowering, grain formation and grain filling stages), I2 (irrigations at early vegetative growth, active vegetative growth, grain formation and grain filling stages), I3 ( irrigations at early vegetative growth, active vegetative growth, flowering and grain filling stages), I4 (irrigations at early vegetative growth, active vegetative growth, flowering and grain formation stages) and I5 ( irrigations at early vegetative growth, active vegetative growth, flowering, grain formation and grain filling stages) in main plots, with three levels of nitrogen (25, 50 and 75 kg N ha-1) in sub-plots. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with four replications. One common irrigation was given to all the treatments for initial establishment of the crop. Results revealed that plant population at harvest was not influenced by irrigation. Plant height studied during the course of investigation showed significant improvement due to application of irrigation at various growth stages. Perusal of these data indicated that, in general, significantly maximum vegetative growth was achieved by application of five irrigations each at early and active vegetative growth, flowering, grain formation and grain filling stages (I5). The yield attributes viz., number of panicles per plant, length of main panicle, days to 50% flowering and maturity, seed yield per plant, grain yield, straw yield and harvest index were significantly influenced by irrigating the crop at different critical growth stages. On the contrary, variation in the test weight of seeds due to irrigation treatments was absent. Increased vegetative growth due to irrigation application had brought concomitant improvement in yield and yield attributes. Application of irrigation at I5 level was deduced to be optimum and registered significantly the highest grain yield. Both the nitrogen and protein content of grains were significantly influenced by irrigation. It was observed that the nitrogen as well as the protein content in grain significantly improved upto I5 level of irrigation. The plant population was not influenced by nitrogen application. Plant height was significantly influenced by nitrogen application at 60 and 90 DAS, and at harvest, but its effect was not observed at 30 DAS. The optimum nitrogen level recorded at 60 DAS was 50 kg N ha-1 (N2), while at 90 DAS and at harvest the plant height significantly increased upto 75 kg N ha-1 (N3). Profound vegetative growth due to adequate supply of N resulted in significantly higher number of panicles, length of main panicle, seed yield per plant, grain yield and straw yield. High nitrogen dosage delayed both 50% flowering and maturity stages of amaranthus crop. However, variation in the seed test weight and harvest index was absent. Nitrogen level N3 ( 75 kg ha-1) was found to be optimum for yield and most yield attributes. From the foregoing results it is pertinent that grain amaranth variety GA-2 gave highest yield as well as net returns when it was irrigated five times (at early and active vegetative growth, flowering, grain formation, and grain filling stages) and fertilized with 75 kg N ha-1, applied in two splits.
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AGRONOMY, AGRICULTURE, A STUDY