Interactive Effect of Potassium and Zinc on Growth, Yield, Quality and Economics of Green Gram (Vigna radiata L.) under Semi-arid Region of South-west Haryana

Background: Pulses are having a number of constraints in their production as compared to their potential in India. Green gram is an important pulse crop of the country after chickpea and pigeonpea lacks optimum fertilizer management, which leads in reduced growth and yield. The current study aimed to study the effects of different levels of potassium and zinc application on growth, yield attributes, yield and quality of green gram. Methods: The field study was conducted during Kharif 2018 at Regional Research Station, CCS HAU, Bawal on green gram cultivar MH-421. The experiment was laid out in a split-plot design with three replications and treatments comprising four levels of potassium in main plots (0, 10, 20 and 30 kg K2O ha(-1)) and four levels of zinc in subplots ( 0, 12.5, 25 and 37.5 kg ZnSO4 ha(-1)). Result: The results indicated that growth parameters like plant height, number of branches, number of pods, number of seeds and dry matter production were released due to the application of potassium and zinc. The number of nodules, their fresh weight and quality parameters like protein content and seed index significantly increased with the application of potassium up to 20 kg K2O ha(-1), but non-significant increment with zinc application. Seed and straw yield increased significantly with potassium and zinc application up to the levels of 20 kg K2O ha(-1) and 25 kg ZnSO4 ha(-1), respectively. Higher net monetary returns of Rs. 31528 ha(-1) with B:C ratio (1.61) was recorded under the treatment combination K20Zn25 (20 kg K2O ha-1 along with 25 kg ZnSO 4 ha-1). It was concluded that higher green gram yield with better quality and more net return was achieved when potassium and zinc were applied @ 20 kg K2O ha(-1) and 25 kg ZnSO4 ha(-1), respectively.