Effect of Seed Hydropriming, Plant Spacing and INM on Biomass Production, Yield, and Nutrients Uptake by Summer Green Gram Crop

Jinendra Birla^* and Santosh Pandey

Institute of Agriculture Sciences, Bundelkhand University Janshi, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Corresponding Author E-mail:  jinendrabirla600@gmail.com

Abstract:

Pulses form an integral part of vegetarian diet in the Indian sub-continent as these are good source of protein and help alleviating malnutrition on cost effective basis. Therefore, there is urgent need to increase the production and productivity of pulses not only to address the protein malnutrition but also to meet the massive requirement of 1500 million Indians by 2040.  The study conducted at Bundelkhand University Jhansi in India during summer 2021 and 2022 aimed to assess the impact of seed hydropriming, plant spacing, and integrated nitrogen management practices (INM) on seed and biomass production and nutrient uptake by summer green gram crop. Seed hydropriming resulted in significantly higher pods/plant, pod length, seeds/pod, seed weight, harvest index, and seed index. Treatment G₁(30x10 cm) showed significantly higher pods/plant, pod length, seeds/pod, seed weight, harvest index, and seed index. Seed hydropriming led to a significant increase in seed and biomass production, with a yield of 858.61 kg/ha, 54.71% more than without seed priming treatment. Treatment G₁(30x10 cm) showed a 138.272% enhancement of yield up to 995.70 kg/ha over treatment G₂(30x20 cm). The biological yield was 1879 and 1985 kg/ha, respectively, significantly higher compared to the respective treatment factors. The INM treatment N₅ led to the highest harvest index of 42.65%, which decreased in descending order to 41.70%, 40.61%, 38.80%, and 37.79% as a result of treatments N₄, N₃, N₁, and N₂, respectively. Treatment P₁ resulted in uptake of 30.59 kg/ha N, 5.10 kg/ha P, and 16.59 kg/ha K, which increased significantly in treatment P₂. Nutrient management of N₅ (50% RDF through chemical fertilizer+50% RDF through Vermicompost) resulted in high absorption of 41.44 kg/ha N, 7.31 kg/ha P, and 21.01 kg/ha K, respectively. Treatment N₄ resulted in removal of 39.49 kg/ha N, 6.90 kg/ha P, and 21.01 kg/ha K from soil. It is concluded that practices of seed hydropriming, crop geometry of 30x 10 cm row x plant spacing and conjunctive use of N, P, K nutrients equivalent to 50% of recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) coupled with 50% nutrients through organic sources (FYM and/ or vermicompost) were found optimum for maximizing vigor of plants through effective absorption of nutrients from soil, yield attributing characters, nutrient uptake, dry matter production and ultimately seed yield of green gram crop and recommended for large scale adoption by farmers.

Keywords:

Biological yield; FYM; Green Gram; Hydropriming; Nutrient Uptake; Plant Geometry; Seed Yield; Vermicompost; Yield Attributor

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