Response of Field Pea to Population Density and Phosphorus Levels

Field experiments involving six levels each of plant density and phosphorus were carried out with the aim to learn about the optimum balance to achieve good crop growth and thus realize the highest yielding ability of field pea. Various growth attributes (e.g., height, leaf number, branch number, pod number and dry weight of plant) were significantly affected by increasing population density and phosphorus levels, Under conditions obtaining at Kanpur, results clearly indicate that a row spacing of 20 cm and a dose of 60 kg P₂O₆/ha gave the highest grain yield for pea variety T 163. At higher population levels, increased plant mortality and reduced number of pods per plant resulted in severe yield reductions. Decreased pod number per plant was related to significant reduction in the number of pod producing branches and the inflorescence bearing stem length, with little change in seed size or seeds per pod. Interactions of yield components and other growth attributes in relation to change in the levels of population density and phosphorus are discussed in this investigation.