LR-3759 [1-9]
AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE
Legume Research,
www.arccjournals.com/www.legumeresearch.in
Print ISSN:0250-5371 / Online ISSN:0976-0571
Response of sowing dates and bio regulators on yield of clusterbean under current climate in alley cropping system in eastern U.P., India Hemraj Meena, Ram Swaroop Meena*, Rattan Lal 1, Gulab Singh Yadav, 1 Tarik Mitran1, Jayanta Layek 1, Somanagouda B. Patil1 Sandeep Kumar and Tarun Verma Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221 005, Uttar Pradesh, India Received: 27-07-2016 Accepted: 26-06-2017 ABSTRACT The impacts on yields of cluster bean were assessed for normal (15 July) and late (30 July) sowing environments and foliar spray of thiourea (500, 1000 ppm) and salicylic acid (50, 100 ppm) at 45 and 60 days after sowing (DAS).Significantly higher yield parameters, yield, economics, protein content and nutrient uptake were recorded with foliar spray of thiourea at 500 ppm as compared to all other bio regulator sprays. Similarly, spray of salicylic acid at 100 ppm enhanced yield and other growth parameters which were statistically at par with those for thiourea 500 ppm foliar spray at 45 and 60 DAS. The data show that the foliar application of bio regulators at normal sowing date enhances seed yield of clusterbean by improving the physiological processes. The interaction effects were significant between the sowing date and bio-regulators on the seed yield. The highest seed yield of 993 and 845 kg/ha was obtained with foliar spray of thiourea at 500 ppm in normal and late sowing, respectively, while the lowest yield of 775 and 769 kg/ha was obtained for the water spray control in normal and late sowing, respectively. Key words: Bio regulators, Clusterbean, Economics, Nutrient uptake, Protein, Sowing environments, Yield. Abbreviations DAS Days after sowing, DOS Date of sowing, INR & Rs Indian Rupees, UDS United State Dollars, Ppm Part per million, Ha hectare INTRODUCTION Alley cropping is a type of agroecosystems where crops are grown in between the trees and found to be an effective means to increase productivity of crop and fruit trees in acidic soil (Jose et al., 2000 Dhakal et al., 2016). Several types of alley cropping can be distinguished depending upon the different associations of trees and crops (Torquebiau, 2000). In Vindhyan region of India, an important part of recently established as alley cropping systems, where parallel fruit tree rows are planted in crop lands, and designed to allow mechanization of annual crops. Clusterbean [Cyamopsistetragonoloba (L.) Taub.], with vernacular name of‘guar’, is an annual, drought-hardy legume, grown under semiarid and subtropical regions. India is its major producer, accounting for ~80% of world’s total production. Cluster bean is grown in India on 2.20 Mha and producesof 0.60 million Mg (Singh et al., 2013), with a low national average yield of merely 273 kg/ha. Climate trends globally and in India have undergone moderate changes because of the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases (Lal, 2012; Meena et al., 2016). During the last several decades, an increasing trend has been observed in air temperatures in most of the major cropping regions around
the world (Meena et al., 2014, 2014a; Easterling and Wehner, 2009). Globally increasing temperature trends of 0.6°C since 1900 (IMD, 2012). In India, decrease in low and medium rainfall events (Goswami et al., 2006) and changes in both temperature and precipitation have also been observed (Dash et al., 2009; Kothawale et al., 2010).Crop growth is strongly determined by environmental factors including light, temperature, rainfall and relative humidity. However, the levels of these climate parameters, particularly rainfall, vary between locations and years, in part due to inherent and temporal variability but also due to uncertainties of the changing climate. Temperature and moisture regimes also vary over the long-term in response to climate change, with major implications to crop production, and the livelihood of crop producers. Therefore, managing the sowing environment is pertinent to managing the climate risks (Dai, 2011). There are also growing concerns regarding agricultural sustainability and food security, both at regional and global scales (Meena et al., 2015a; Shanker and Venkateswarlu, 2011; Lal, 2009, 2010, 2016.). Climate change, and the associated increases in climatic variability, will exacerbate this challenge, especially in developing
*Corresponding author’s e-mail:
[email protected] 1 School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA- 43210
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LEGUME RESEARCH An International Journal
countries (Parry et al. 2004).Climate change can aggravate biotic and abiotic stresses on crops causing strong morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular changes that adversely affect plant growth, yield and productivity (Christensen and Christensen, 2007; Lal, 2013; Meena et al., 2016a). Sowing environment is an important determinant of crop yield, and is related to the onset of significant rainfall, temperature and humidity of a region. Reduction in crop yield by delayed sowing has been widely reported (Lal,, 1973; Ayaz 2004; Nicholson, 2001; Meena and Yadav, 2014; Meena et al., 2015b). The major biotic (e,g., pests, pathogens) and abiotic stresses (e.g.,drought, heat) negatively impact on the biomass production and yield (Vorasoot et al., 2003; Mantri et al., 2012), thereby jeopardizing crop productivity. Drought stress is a global issue that significantly reduces the yield and quality of rainfed crops (Hongbo et al., 2005). Use of plant growth regulators like thiourea (CH4N2S) and salicylic acid (C7H6O3) amend plant responses towards biotic and abiotic stresses (Farooq et al., 2009 Dadhich et al., 2015). Application of thiourea has been identified as a novel bio-regulator technology, for imparting stress tolerance to crops (Meena et al., 2014a; Dadhich et al., 2015a). Salicylic acid plays diverse physiological roles in plants including plant growth, thermo genesis, flower induction, nutrient uptake and enzyme activities (Hayat and Ahmed 2007; Meena and Meena, 2015; Varma et al., 2017). The objective of this article was to assess the interaction effect of sowing dates and role of bio regulators to mitigate the environmental stress on clusterbean production in semiarid region of northern India. MATERIALS AND METHODS Crop and climate: The climate of experimental Agricultural Research Farm is typically semi-arid to sub-humid, characterized by extremes of temperatures both in summer and winter with low rainfall and moderate humidity. The normal period for the onset of monsoons in this region is the third week of June and it lasts up to the end of September or sometimes extends to the first week of October. Winter showers are often experienced between December and mid
February. However, March to May is generally dry. Of the total annual rainfall, ~75 % is received from June to September. The winter months (with the temperature of
