Integrated nutrient management for seed production in cowpea [Vigna unguiculata L.]

An experiment on integrated nutrient management for seed production in cowpea was conducted with treatments T1 (RDF), T2 (RDF + lime), T3 (75% RDF + lime), T4 (75% RDF +25% FYM), T5 (75% RDF +25% vermicompost), T6 (75% RDF+25% FYM + lime), T7 (75% RDF + 25 % vermicompost + lime), T8 (50% RDF + 25% FYM+ 2 foliar spray), T9 (50 % RDF + 25% vermicompost +2 foliar spray), T10 (50% RDF +25% FYM + lime + 2 foliar spray), T11 (50% RDF +25% vermicompost + lime+ 2 foliar spray). It was observed that the number of pods per plant was highest in T7 (18.67) followed by T5 (16.67), length of pod was highest with T1(26.36 cm) followed by T6 (26.32 cm), dry weight of pod per plant was highest in T7 (32.67 g) followed by (32.03 g) in T4, number of seeds per plant was highest in T7 (190.67) followed by T6(180.00) and dry weight of pods per plot was highest in T7 (2010.5 g) followed by T6 (2008.6 g). However, the seed yield per plot was maximum in T7 (1656.00 g) followed by 1505.52 g in T6 and the seed yield per hectare was highest in T7 (18.21 q/ha) followed by 16.56 q/ha in T6 and 15.32 q/ha in T4 and the lowest seed yield of 13.95 q/ha was obtained in T1. It was observed that T7 produced the highest yield of 18.21q/ha followed by T6 (16.56 q/ha) which were significantly higher than the rest of the treatments. It can be concluded that application of 75% RDF along with either vermicompost or with FYM and application of lime produced a good environment supporting very good growth of cowpea to produce significantly higher seed yield.