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Field experiment was conducted during kharif 2017 and 2018 at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh to evaluate the effect of organic manures and phosphorus levels on growth, yield and economics of vegetable cowpea. Three levels of organic manures (no organic manure, FYM @ 5 tonnes ha-1 and poultry manure @2 tonnes ha-1) and 3 phosphorus levels (0, 40 and 60 kg P2O5 ha-1)applied to vegetable cowpea. Yield attributes and yield of cowpea varied with manures and phosphorus levels. Poultry manure application @ 2 tonnes ha-1 resulted in higher number of pods plant-1 (7.28), seeds pod-1 (8.47), green pod yield (2796 kg ha-1),haulm yield (12150 kg ha-1) and net returns (51520 ` ha-1) which was statistically on par with application of FYM @ 5 tonnes ha-1. Among the phosphorus levels, application of 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 resulted in higher green pod yield (2720 kg ha-1) and net returns (47892 ` ha-1) which was on par with that of 40 kg P2O5 ha-1.
Vegetable cowpea, FYM, poultry manure and phosphorus levels.
Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp] is of immense importance, as it is a multipurpose grain legume
extensively cultivated in arid and semiarid tropics. The cowpea is used as grain, green pods and fodder. Cowpea is grown as a catch crop, weed smothering crop, intercrop, mixed crop and green manure crop. It has ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in soil at the rate of 56 kg per hectare
in association with symbiotic bacteria under favorable conditions (Yadav, 1986).
India grows 252.7 lakh hectares of pulses with an annual production of 188.4 lakh tonnes with an average productivity of 745 kg ha-1. In Andhra Pradesh, it is cultivated in 12.7 lakh hectares with a production of 10.6 lakh tonnes at a productivity of 835 kg ha-1 (Annual Report, 2017-18). In Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh, cowpea is cultivated in an area of 1,848 hectares with a production of 1752 tonnes with productivity of 948 kg ha-1 (CPO, 2018).
Organic manures although, not useful as sole sources of nutrients, are however, good complementary
sources with inorganic fertilizers (Chaudhary et al., 2004).Organic manures play a vital role in maintenance of physical, chemical and biological environment of soil and supply macro and micronutrients to crops, besides maintaining humic substances in soil (Sharma, 1992). The judicious combination of organic manures and fertilizers should be used for improving crop productivity and maintaining soil fertility.
Phosphorus is the second most critical plant nutrient over all, but for pulses it assumes primary importance owing to its important role in root proliferation and there by atmospheric nitrogen fixation. Phosphorus (P) is one of the most needed elements for pulse production.Phosphorus, although not required in large quantities, is critical to cowpea yield because of its multiple effects on nutrition. All growing plants require P for growth and development in significantly large quantity. Role of phosphorus is well documented that it increases root formation, number of nodules and in turn yield. The present study was taken up to study the influence of organic manures and phosphorus at different levels on yield and economics of vegetable cowpea in Southern Zone of Andhra Pradesh.
The field experiment was conducted during kharif 2017 and 2018 at S.V. Agricultural college farm, Tirupati of Andhra Pradesh. Geographically, the experimental field is located at longitude 79.5° East and latitude 13.5° Northat an altitude of 182.9 m above the mean sea level. Soil of the experimental site was sandy loam in texture with neutral in reaction (6.94), low organic carbon (0.39%) and available N (168.5 kg ha-1) medium in P2O5 (18.8 kg ha-1) and available K2O (161.3 kg ha-1). The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications.
The treatments consisted of three organic manures, viz., control, (M1) FYM @ 5 t ha-1 (M2) and poultry manure @ 2 t ha-1 (M3) as main plot treatments and three phosphorus levels, viz., 0 (P1), 40 kg P2O5 ha-1 (P2) and 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 as sub- plot treatments. As per treatments, FYM and poultry manure were incorporated 15 days before sowing and phosphorus was applied at basal to cowpea during both the years. The test crop was cowpea (TPTC-29) apart using a seed rate of 20 kg ha-1. Recommended dose of phosphorus fertilizer was applied as per as the treatments. Single super phosphate was used as a source of phosphorus. Other normal operations or management practices were done as per the general recommendations for the crop. Observations on growth parameters, viz., plant height, dry matter and yield parameters and yields, were recorded at physiological maturity. The data recorded for different parameters were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique for a split plot design and results are presented at 5% level of significance (P = 0.05).
Significantly taller plant height (52.4 cm), higher leaf area (1256 cm2) and dry matter (3219 kg ha-1) at harvest was obtained with the incorporation of poultry manure @ 2 t ha-1 (M3), however, it was on par with application of FYM @ 5 t ha-1 (M2) and both were superior to no manure application (M1) (Table 1). Dry matter production is the prerequisite for higher yields, which is an indication of the biosynthetic processes associated with the crop growth and development. This could be mainly due to increased plant height and higher leaf area maintained throughout the crop period resulting in enhanced carbohydrate synthesis, which ultimately led to higher dry matter production. These findings were in agreement with Rao et al. (2013) and Singh et al. (2015).Organic matter addition through organic manures might had prominent beneficial effect on soil properties that promoted crop growth. Similar results were perceived by Dosani et al. (1999). Number of pods plant-1 (7.28), seeds pod-1 (8.47), green pod yield (2796 kg ha-1), haulm yield (12150 kg ha-1) and net returns (51520 ` ha-1) of cowpea (Table 2) was higher with incorporation of poultry manure @ 2 t ha-1, however, it was on par with those resulted due to FYM (5 t ha-1) incorporation and both weresignificantly superior to no manure application during both the years of study. This might be due to the fact that organic manures supplied balanced nutrition to the crop,improved soil condition and there by resulting in better growth and development leading to higher yield attributes and yield. The same was obvious through the findings of Yadav et al. (2007), Rao et al. (2013) and Singh et al.(2015). Numerically higher values of gross (69898 ` ha-1)and net returns (51520 ` ha-1) was recorded with application of poultry manure @ 2 t ha-1 (M3) followed by application of farm yard manure @ 5 t ha-1 (M2).
Among phosphorus levels, during both the years of study, application of 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 (P3) resulted in taller plant height (55.6 cm), higher leaf area (1305 cm2) and significantly higher dry matter (3272 kg ha-1) which was comparable with 40 kg P2O5 ha-1 (P2) and both were significantly superior to no phosphorus (P1) (Table 1).The higher dry matter production with higher doses of Phosphorus might be attributed to enhanced carbohydrate metabolism, enzymatic activity and an essential constituent of majority of enzymes which have great importance in the transformation of energy required in cell division, ATP activation of amino acids for synthesis of protein and in carbohydrate metabolism might have to lead to more dry matter production. These results are in conformity with the results of Pal and Jana (1991) and Kumar and Singh (2011). Number of pods plant-1 and seeds per pod-1 showed increased trend with application of increased P levels. Similarly, successive increase in P levels had positive effect on pod as well as haulm yield over their preceding level. Application of 60 kg P2O5 ha1 recorded significantly higher green pod yield and haulm yield as compared to control, but which was comparable with that of 40 kg P2O5 ha-1 (Table 2). Application of phosphorus might have resulted in increased energy transfer as phosphorus is constituent of many enzymes and their remobilization to reproductive parts of the plants. This might have resulted in increased flowering, fruiting and seed formation and ultimately higher pod yield. These results are in conformity with the findings of Kumawat (2006). Among the phosphorus levels,application of 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 (P3) registered with higher gross (68002 ` ha-1) and net returns (47892 ` ha-1) but in parity with 40 kg P2O5 ha-1(P2) (Table 3).
The interaction of organic manures and phosphorus levels could not exert any significantly effect on growth parameters, yield attributes, yield and economics of cowpea, during both the years of experimentation.
The experimental results concluded that, incorporation of poultry manure @ 2 t ha-1 along with 40
kg P2O5 ha-1 is recommendable for higher growth, yield and better monetary returns of vegetable cowpea.
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