Improving Yield Potential of Pigeonpea through Foliar Nutrition

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in research farm at Department of Pulses, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University during kharif season of 2018 to 2020 to assess the effect of foliar nutrition to enhance the productivity of pigeonpea under rainfed condition. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications and eight treatments. Treatments consist of foliar application with urea 2%, MAP 1%, All nineteen 0.5%, Pulse magic 1%, ZnSO4 0.5 %, FeSO4 0.5 % and ZnSO4 0.5 % + FeSO4 @ 0.5 % along with no foliar nutrition spray. 100% recommended dose of fertilizer (25:50:25:20 kg NPKS ha-1) was applied to all treatments. The yield parameters such as number of pods per plant and number of seed per pods were significantly influenced by foliar nutrition. All the foliar spray treatments recorded higher seed yield as compared to control (without foliar spray). Among the different foliar nutrition, 0.5% all nineteen recorded significantly higher seed yield of 1118 kg ha-1. Result concluded that retention of flowers is possible through foliar application of macronutrients during flower initiation stage and it helps to enhance the productivity of pigeonpea under rainfed situation.