S. MOBEENA*, C. NAGAMANI, G. PRABHAKARA REDDY AND V. UMAMAHESH
Department of Agronomy,
S. V. Agricultural College, ANGRAU, Tirupati-517 502 (A. P.), India
*(e-mail : mobeena.shaik2693@gmail.com)
(Received : 24 October 2020; Accepted : 22 December 2020)
SUMMARY
A field study was undertaken during summer, 2019 on sandy loam soils of S. V. Agricultural College, Tirupati to find out the optimum time of sowing and phosphorus level for maximizing the yield and quality of fodder cowpea. Three time of sowing viz., I FN (fortnight) of January, II FN of January and I FN of February assigned to main plots and four levels of phosphorus viz., 0, 20, 40 and 60 kg P2O5 per ha allotted to sub plots with three replications were maintained under split plot design. Higher leaf to stem ratio, green fodder yield, crude protein content and ash content were recorded with earlier sown crop i.e. I FN of January. Significantly higher leaf to stem ratio, green fodder yield, crude protein content and ash content was recorded with the application of 60 kg P2O5/ha. The highest crude fibre content was recorded with the later sown crop (I FN of February) followed by that with earlier sown crop viz., II FN of January and I FN of January. Significantly lower crude fibre content was recorded when the crop was supplied with 60 kg P2O5/ha and the highest crude fibre content was recorded with control. The interaction between time of sowing and phosphorus levels influencing all the parameters were found to be non-significant. In conclusion, the present investigation revealed that fodder cowpea gives optimum green fodder yield with high nutritional quality if sown during I FN of January with 60 kg P2O5/ha.
Key words:Cowpea, time of sowing, phosphorus