Effect of micronutrients applied foliarly on growth and yield of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.)

Abstract

The “Impact of Foliar application of Micronutrients on Growth, Yield and Quality of Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata L.]” was the subject of a field experiment carried out in the kharif season of 2023 at the Research Farm, School of Agriculture, Suresh Gyan Vihar University Jaipur. With three replications, the experiment was set up in a randomized block design. Ten treatments made up the experiment viz., ZnSO4 (0.5%) + FeSO4 (0.5%) (T2), ZnSO4 (0.5%) + FeSO4 (1.0%) (T3), ZnSO4 (0.5%) + FeSO4 (1.5%) (T4), ZnSO4 (1.0%) + FeSO4 (0.5%) (T5), ZnSO4 (1.0%) + FeSO4 (1.0%) (T6), ZnSO4 (1.0%) + FeSO4 (1.5%) (T7), ZnSO4 (1.5%) + FeSO4 (0.5%) (T8), ZnSO4 (1.5%) + FeSO4 (1.0%) (T9) and ZnSO4 (1.5%) + FeSO4 (1.5%) (T10), including the control (T1). CPD-119 was the cowpea cultivar used in the research. As demonstrated by the experimental results, foliar application of ZnSO4 (1.5%) + FeSO4 (1.5%) (T10) resulted in significantly higher growth parameters, including plant height, number of branches, number of green leaves, number of nodules, and accumulation of dry matter at different growth stages; however, it was still on par with the other treatments in terms of yield attributes and yield, including number of pods plant-1, number of seeds pod-1, seed yield, straw yield and biological yield. The foliar application of micronutrients did not significantly affect the cowpea test weight and harvest index.