Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
Results
The weekly PASM values across various phenophases revealed that, crop experienced severe
and moderate drought at all the phenophases of crop growth as shown in the table. Crop which
experienced severe drought (6-16% PASM) at all phenophases recorded pod yield of 802 kg
ha -1 , moderate drought (33-42% PASM) recorded 1151 kg ha -1 . While, the crop with mild
drought (58-64% PASM) at vegetative, flowering, pegging and pod development stages
produced pod yield of 1573 kg ha -1 , the crop with no drought (90-100% PASM) at all the
phenophases recorded 1364 kg ha -1 pod yield. However, the crop did not experience mild
drought at emergence, maturity and no drought at maturity stage.
It was observed that the crop which experienced no drought at pegging recorded lower yield
(1066 kg ha -1 ) compared to one which experienced, moderate drought (1296 kg ha -1 ) and mild
drought (1400 kg ha -1 ). It indicates that the groundnut crop needs moderate to mild drought
conditions (36-64% PASM) for development of effective pegs and higher soil moisture (95%
PASM), low moisture (12% PASM) at this stage is detrimental to crop yield. Positive and
significant correlation between soil moisture and pod yield of groundnut was also reported by
Guled et al2013).
Severe drought at pod development stage has reduced pod yield (661 kg ha -1 ) compared to
moderate drought (962 kg ha -1 ), mild drought (1435 kg ha -1 ) and no drought has recorded higher
pod yield (1517 kg ha -1 ). This clearly indicates the importance of adequate soil moisture at pod
development, which is the most critical phenophase of groundnut to harvest higher pod yield
under rainfed situation.
Conclusion
The analysis of percent available soil moisture and pod yield of groundnut revealed that, the
crop was experiencing moderate drought during crop growth period in most of the years. The
effect of severe drought was more under late sowing compared to normal sowing during 1 st and
2 nd FN of July. The crop subjected to mild drought during the crop growing period irrespective
of the sowing environment and phenophases, produced higher pod yield compared to no
drought and moderate drought condition. Moderate to mild drought at pegging and mild or no
drought at pod development are having significant influence on pod yield of groundnut crop
grown in Ananthapuramu district of Andhra Pradesh.
References
Anonymous. 2016. Manual for drought management. Department of Agriculture, Cooperation
& Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Government of India. Pp
37-39.
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