Elevating Sustainable Agriculture: Eco-Friendly Seed Treatments for Enhanced Plant Growth and Yield in Mungbean

Abstract

Aims: To study the effect of chemicals, bioagents, botanical and domestically available material on plant growth, yield and yield attributing traits in mungbean var. Sweta. Study Design: The field experiment was conducted in Randomised Block Design. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the Student Instruction Farm, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur U.P during Zaid 2021 and Zaid 2022. Methodology: The seeds of mungbean var. Sweta were treated with Rhizobium @25 g/kg (T1), Trichoderma @10 g/kg (T2), Cypermethrin @3 g/kg (T3), Bavistin @3 g/kg (T4), Neem oil @5 ml/kg (T5) and Camphor @4 g/kg (T6) before sowing them in the field. At maturity, observations were recorded for plant height (cm), number of root nodules per plant, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, test weight (g) and total seed yield in q/ha, to know the effect of chemicals, bioagents, botanical and domestically available material on growth and seed yield in mungbean var. Sweta. Results: The treatment T5: Neem oil @ 5 ml/kg seed outperformed all the other treatments in terms of plant height (cm), number of root nodules per plant, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, test weight (g) and total seed yield in q/ha. However, treatment T1: Rhizobium @25 g/kg seed, exhibited superior performance in terms of the number of root nodules per plant when compared to all other treatments. Conclusion: The transitioning from chemical to natural seed treatment is essential, given its manifold advantages for agriculture, the environment, and human health. Neem oil has eco-friendly pest control and growth-enhancing properties which can fuel this promising shift toward a more sustainable future.