Response of field pea (Pisum sativum) under cluster front line demonstration in Samastipur district, Bihar

The Indian population is expected to rise to 1.68 billion by 2030 and therefore, the requirement of pulses will be 32 million tonnes for the same as reported in vision document of Indian Institute of Pulses Research. For meeting the requirement, the production growth rate of pulses is expected at 4.2 per cent. The field pea has been most preferred pulse in Samastipur to be grown in rabi season. The present study was conducted to revive the field pea cultivation employing new cultivars by KVK, Samastipur and carried out during rabi season in different blocks of the district during the years 2019-20 and 2020-21. The Cluster Front Line Demonstration (CFLD) on field pea varieties, namely, Azad3-120/IPFD-10-12 and Pulse type/Prakash were taken up during each year for 07 and 10 ha clusters, respectively. These demonstrations recorded higher average grain yield (15.35 and 14.30 q/ha) of field pea as compared to average yield obtained from farmers practice (10.25 and 10.20 q/ha) computed to increase in yield by 49.75 and 41.0 per cent during 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively. Similarly, the benefit: cost ratio was 1.95 and 2.22, respectively. The technology gap (q/ha), extension gap (q/ha) and technology index (%) were 6.65, 5.10 and 30.22 during 2019-20 and 7.70, 4.10 and 35.00 were 2020-21. The significant increase in yield is attributed due to introduction of new varieties in cluster mode. This mode facilitates better crop management resulting in better quality production.