Vegetable pea (Pisum sativum L.) production and soil health influenced under varying irrigation and nutrient management practices in mollisols
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Date
2021-08
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
The investigation was carried during 2020-2021 to study the vegetable pea (Pisum sativum L.) production and soil health influenced under varying irrigation and nutrient management practices in Mollisols. Field experiment was conducted during Rabi season - 2020 at Norman E. Borlaug Crop Research Centre, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar. The experiment comprised of two irrigation methods (drip and flood) and six different nutrient management combinations, which were replicated three times in Split plot design. Drip irrigation method recorded significantly higher values of symbiotic and physiological traits (nodule number, chlorophyll content, leghemoglobin content and relative water content), growth attributes (plant height, total dry matter accumulation, root dry matter, root shoot ratio and root weight density), yield attributes (pods/plant, individual pod weight, grains/pod and shelling percent), pod yield, nutrient content and uptake, gross and net returns and B:C ratio as compared to flood irrigation. There was no significant difference in soil organic carbon, available N, P and K but dehydrogenase activity was significantly higher under drip irrigation. Irrigation water use efficiency, water and economic water productivity was also higher under drip irrigation (0.087 t/hamm and Rs. 1235/ mm, respectively) compared to flood irrigation. Nodule number, chlorophyll content, leghemoglobin content, total dry matter accumulation, root dry matter, pods per plant, individual pod weight, grain/pod, grain weight per pod, pod length, shelling percent, pod yield and stover yield, N, P, K content and uptake soil pH, EC, OC, available N, P, K, and dehydrogenase activity, gross and net returns and B:C ratio were significantly impacted due to different nutrient management practices. Treatment RDF + FYM @2.5 t/ha + Vermicompost @ 1t/ha recorded higher pod yield, soil organic carbon, economic water productivity and water use efficiency (12.41 Mt/ha, 1.05%, Rs 1075 /mm and 0.066 t/ha-mm, respectively). It can be deduced from the study that integrated nutrient management practice (RDF + FYM @2.5 t/ha + Vermicompost @ 1t/ha) under drip irrigation has great potential to enhanced the growth and yield attributes, pod yield, nutrient content, soil parameters, irrigation water efficiency and confer the economic benefits to the stakeholders. The outcomes of the study also clearly demonstrated the potential of drip irrigation with integrated nutrient management practice (RDF+ FYM @2.5 t/ha + Vermicompost @ 1t/ha) to sustain and improve the soil health under vegetable pea.