Influence of Drought management practices in Pigeonpea under rainfed conditions of Karnataka, India

Abstract:

Drought is a major abiotic constraint for optimum yield under changing environmental conditions. Because of slow initial growth and long duration, pigeon pea crop suffers badly due to moisture stress, especially during flowering and pod formation stages. Any management techniques to mitigate drought under stress period will help to boost its productivity.A field experiment was conducted during kharif season of 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 at Zonal Agricultural Research Station, Kalaburagi, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur (Karnataka) on shallow black soil.The experiment was laid out in a complete randomized block design with three replications.The pooled data of three years indicated that application of FYM @ 5 t ha-1 + Pusa hydrogel @ 2.5 kg ha-1 + 2% KH2PO4 at flowering + 2% KNO3 at pod development stage recorded significantly higher seed (1392 kg ha-1) and stalk (4037 kg ha-1) yield and monetary advantage (gross returns ₹ 83520 ha-1, net returns ₹ 42520 ha-1 and B:C ratio 2.04) as compared to rest of the treatments but it was on par with FYM @ 5 t ha-1+2% KH2PO4 at flowering + 2% KNO3 at the pod development stage. Significantly lower seed and stalk yield, gross returns, net returns and B: C ratios were recorded in control (RDF only).