Effect of nitrogen and phosphorus on the productivity of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) in South-West Punjab

Abstract

A field experiment entitled “Effect of different levels of nitrogen and phosphorus on growth and yield of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) in South West Punjab” was conducted during rabi season of 2017-18 at experimental field, Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo, Punjab. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with two levels of nitrogen (15 and 30 kg N/ha) in main plots and five levels of phosphorus (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 kg P2O5/ha) in sub plots, replicated thrice. The results indicated that highest plant height, number of branches, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, pod length, seed yield, straw yield and biological yield were found in 30 kg N/ha and 40 kg P/ha. The application of 30 kg N/ha gave significantly higher (1441 kg/ha) seed yield as compare to 15 kg N/ha treatment. Increasing levels of phosphorus up to 40 kg/ha phosphorus (P2O5) significantly increased the seed yield of fenugreek over 0, 10, 20 and 30 kg P2O5/ha. There was 39.1, 21.2, 12.5 and 5.7% increase in seed yield due to application of 40 kg P2O5/ha over 0, 10, 20 and 30 kg P2O5/ha, respectively. Thus it can be concluded that nitrogen application at 30 kg/ha and phosphorus @ 40 kg/ha were found more effective than rest of the treatments.