Performance of black gram (Vigna mungo L. hepper) with organic amendments under mid hills of Meghalaya
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Date
2019
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College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU-Imphal, Umiam
Abstract
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.