Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges & Opportunities
during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
cowpea variety Bhagyalakshmi released from Kerala Agricultural University was used for the
study. At the time of second ploughing, 20 t ha -1 dried powdered FYM was applied to the
treatment plots. Chemical fertilizers were applied @ 20:30:10 kg NPK ha -1 (RDF). Urea, rajphos
and muriate of potash respectively were used as source of NPK for the experiment. Water
soluble NPK fertilizer (19:19:19), NK fertilizer KNO3 (13.7% N and 46% K2O), zinc sulphate
heptahydrate (21% Zn) and solubor (20.9% B) were used for foliar application. Seeds primed in
ZnSO4 (0.05%) for 4 h were dibbled at a spacing of 30 cm x 15 cm.
Results
Significantly higher dry matterwas recorded by all the treatments involving foliar application
compared to RDF due to the quick access of plants to nutrients (Dey et al., 2017). Better growth
expression withRDF + 0.5% 19:19:19 + 0.025% solubor at 45 DAS is evident from its highest
dry matter production and CGR at final harvest. This can be attributed to its significantly higher
N, P and K uptake. It recorded the highest number of pods per plant, which is due to the
favourable influence of B in enhancing the fruit setting percentage by promoting the germination
of pollen and elongation of pollen tube (Narayanammaet al., 2009). Higher chlorophyll content
in this treatment can be ascribed to the higher N content of leaves as evident from the data on N
uptake. Foliar nutrition enhanced the nodule fresh weight from 0.05 to 1.35 g per plant. Zinc is
actively involved in the biosynthesis of leghaemoglobin (Das et al., 2012) as evident from
nodule fresh weight T4 and T6. Perusal of data on B: C ratio revealed that all the foliar
application treatments registered higher B: C ratio compared to RDF. The highest B: C ratio was
registered in T5 (2.26) due to higher yield.
Effect of foliar nutrition on uptake of N, P and K
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