ANKITA, NEELAM*, SATPAL, KAUTILYA CHAUDHARY AND PATTAM KEERTHI
Department of Agronomy
CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India
*(e-mail: berkesia.neelam@gmail.com)
(Received: 11 Februry 2025; Accepted: 26 March 2025)
SUMMARY
A field experiment entitled “Performance of cowpea varieties under moisture stress conditions” was carried out during summer season, 2022 at Research Farm of Forage Section, Department of G & PB, CCS Haryana Agricultural University. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications. It consisted of three irrigation schedules viz. irrigation at 7, 11 and 15 days interval and four cowpea varieties viz. RC 101, GC 1601, PGCP 24 and HC 46. The texture of the soil was sandy loam with pH 7.9, electrical conductivity (EC) 0.32 dS m-1 and organic carbon (OC) 0.46%. The soil was low in available nitrogen (125 kg/ha), medium in phosphorus (13.5 kg/ha) and potassium (290 kg/ha). Irrigation at 15 days interval and variety RC 101 took less number of days to complete almost all physiological stages in crop growth period. Maximum chlorophyll content was recorded under irrigation schedules at 7 days interval, whereas among varieties, highest chlorophyll content at 60 DAS was noted in variety GC 1601, which was at par with chlorophyll content of variety PGCP 24. Highest RWC of cowpea varieties at harvest was recorded with irrigation scheduled at 7 days interval, followed 11 days interval. In varieties significantly maximum RWC was noted in variety RC 101, followed by variety GC 1601, PGCP 24. Maximum corresponding NPK content (3.771
& 1.89%), (0.554 & 0.164%) and (1.39 & 1.70%) in seed and straw, respectively were observed in irrigation schedules of 15 days interval, followed by irrigation schedules at 11 days interval. With more frequent irrigation application, NPK content showed a decreasing trend. Maximum NPK content (3.750 & 1.87 %), (0.547 & 0.160%) and (1.34 & 1.66 %) were observed in seed and straw, respectively in variety GC 1601. Variation in NPK uptake under different irrigation and varieties in both seed and straw was observed due to variation in NPK content.
Key words: Cowpea, varieties, irrigation scheduling, physiological parameters and quality