Antioxidant property of finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.)

Abstract

Despite availability of numerous high yielding varieties of soybean, the average grain yield is still low in India owing to its poor growth due to factors like untimely sowing, low seed viability, poor soil fertility, poor drainage, weed infestation, pest and disease attack etc. Land configuration decides the effectiveness of the crop management practices regarding application of nutrient, irrigation, weed management etc and can play a major role in better growth of soybean. The present study was thus planned to analyse the growth of soybean varieties under different land configurations in mollisols of himalayan tarai. The experiment was conducted during the kharif season of 2017, in C5 block of N.E. Borlaug Crop Research Centre of G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar (Uttarakhand). Treatments consisted of three land configurations ( Flat bed, ridge and furrow and raised bed) and varieties (PS-1092, PS-1225 and PS-1347) were set out in split plot design keeping land configurations in main plot and varieties in sub plot with three replication. The soil of experimental site was sandy loam in nature having medium soil organic carbon, low in available nitrogen but high in available phosphorus and medium potassium contents. Soybean was planted on 18 July, 2017 at a spacing of 45cmx10cm and harvested on 16 November, 2017. Under different land configurations, emergence count at 10th day after sowing, number of trifoliate leaves, stem dry weight and crop growth rate were found to be significantly affected but there was no significant effect on the plant height, canopy spread, leaf dry weight, total plant dry weight, leaf: stem ratio of soybean. Varieties also did not show any significant effect on emergence of soybean however plant height, number of trifoliate leaves, leaf dry weight, stem weight, total plant dry matter, root dry weight and growth rate differed significantly. The study revealed that better selection of variety and land configuration may lead to positive effect on soybean growth which in turn would result in better yield.