YIELD ATTRIBUTES AND QUALITY OF COWPEA AS INFLUENCED BY NITROGEN AND PHOSPHORUS LEVELS ON MEDIUM BLACK SOIL OF GUJARAT
H.P.VERMA*, P.K.CHOVATIA SHISH RAM DHIKWAL AND K.L.REGAR
College of Agriculture,
Junagadh Agricultural University,
Junagadh, Gujarat-362001
(E-mail: hppersoya.p@gmail.com)
(Received: 28 November 2014; Accepted: 18 December 2014)
SUMMARY
A field experiment was conducted during 2012 to study the yield attributes and quality of cowpea (GC-5) as influenced by nitrogen and phosphorus levels on medium black soil of Gujarat. The experiment consisted of four treatments of nitrogen levels (control, 20, 30 and 40 kg/ha) and four treatments of phosphorus levels (control, 40 60 and 80 kg P2O5/ha) thereby making sixteen treatment combinations tested in factorial randomized block design with three replications. The results indicated the application of nitrogen @ 40 kg/ha give the maximum and significantly higher the number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, test weight, seed yield, straw yield, biological yield, protein content, chlorophyll content and remained at par with 20 and 30 kg N/ha over control. The maximum net return and BCR was found with the application of 20 kg N/ha. Results further indicated the application of phosphorus @ 80 kg/ha give the maximum and significantly higher the number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, test weight, seed, straw, biological yields, protein content, chlorophyll content and remained at par with 40 and 60 kg P2O5/ha over control. The maximum net return and BCR was found with the application of 40 kg P2O5/ha. The combined application of nitrogen and phosphorus levels @ 20 kg and 40 kg P2O5/ha significantly higher in term of seed and straw yield over rest of treatments.
Key words:Yield, quality, BCR: Cowpea, Nitrogen, Phosphorus.