Response of long duration pigeonpea (Cajanus Cajan L .) to foliar application of nutrients and insecticides under rainfed condition of Bihar

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted for three consecutive years during Kharif seasons of 2016-17 to 2018-19 at Tirhut College of Agriculture, Dholi a campus of Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur to study the response of long duration pigeonpea [(Cajanus cajan) (L.) Millsp] to foliar application of nutrients and insecticides under rainfed condition. Foliar application of multi-micronutrient 2 ml/litre + indoxacarb 1 ml/litre at 50% flowering fb profenofos 1 ml/litre 15 days later together with based application of RDF recorded higher number of pods/plant, pod length (5.6 cm), number of grains/pod (212), fruiting efficiency (16.8%) water-use-efficiency (3.5 kg/ha/mm), production efficiency in term of ₹/ha/day (366.7) and kg/ha/day (8.61), grain yield (2286.5 kg/ha), and NPK-uptake by crop and net return (96.83x103₹/ha) but was found at par with foliar application of 1% urea+ 0.25% borax and ZnSO4 at 50% flowering together with basal application of RDF and significantly higher than foliar application of 2% urea, 0.5% borax and 0.5% ZnSO4 at 50% flowering individually together with basal application of RDF and RDF alone. However, significantly higher B:C ratio (3.15) was registered under foliar application of 1% urea + 0.25% borax and ZnSO4 together with RDF. Foliar application of indoxacarb 1ml/litre at 50% flowering fb profenofos 1 ml/litre 15 days later with RDF and foliar application of these insecticides with multi-micronutrient at 50% flowering with RDF significantly reduced the incidence of pod borer and pod fly than other treatments. Plant height, branches/ plant, 100-grain weight, and protein content in grain were unaffected by foliar application of nutrients and insecticides.