Effect of Crop Geometry and Foliar Nutrition on Growth and Yield of Irrigated Blackgram (Vigna mungo L.)

A field experiment was carried out during Rabi season of 2012– 13, at Agricultural College and Research Institute, Killikulam, to evaluate the suitability and economic viability of crop geometry and foliar nutrition on growth and yield of irrigated blackgram. The experiment was laid out in Randomized block design with three replications, comprising fifteen treatments. The variety used was VBN (Bg) 5. Results revealed that Crop geometry at 40 × 30 cm with foliar spray of TNAU Pulse Wonder at 1.125% recorded for better growth characters of individual plant viz., plant height, number of branches plant-1, number of root nodules plant-1, Light interception and Yield attributes of individual plant like number of pod clusters plant-1, number of pods cluster-1, pod length and number of seeds pod-1. In the case of dry matter production kg ha-1 and leaf area index of growth attributing characters, grain, bhusa and haulm yield kg ha-1 were recorded higher with crop geometry of 30 × 10 cm with foliar spray of TNAU Pulse Wonder at 1.125%. The yield levels were on par with crop geometry of 30 × 20 cm with same application. The uptake of nutrients was also higher under crop geometry of 30 × 10 cm as well as 30 × 20 cm with foliar spray of TNAU Pulse Wonder at 1.125%. The highest net return and B: C ratio were obtained when the crop geometry at 30 × 20 cm with foliar spray of TNAU Pulse Wonder at 1.125%.