Transplanting in pigeonpea - A contingency measure for realizing higher productivity in Eastern Plains of India

Pigeonpea being a Kharif crop most often faces vagaries or uncertainties of rainfall extremities resulting in poor yield realization as it is primarily dependent upon plant population survived until maturity. Maintaining adequate number of plants in presence of both abiotic and biotic stresses is therefore, poses challenge towards sustainability in production. To counteract this, the potential of certain crop contingencies including transplanting of pigeonpea seedling in main field so as to maintain adequate plant population for compensating yield loss during Kharif season is being explored. In this context, a field experiment was carried out at Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, India for two years (2011–13) in a sandy loam soil (Typic Ustochrept) with the objectives of studying the feasibility and refining the existing technology of transplanting pigeonpea and its suitability under Eastern Plains of India. The soil was rated with neutral pH and low fertility status in surface soils with descending values towards lower depths. The treatments included the combination of nursery raising technology (paper bags and polyethylene bags), age of seedling (transplanting was made at 3, 4 & 5 weeks after sowing) and land configurations (flat bed and ridge transplanting in main field). The study revealed that irrespective of age of seedling (weeks after transplanting) and material for raising seedling in nursery, an additional seed yield to the tune of 845 kg/ha (27.4%) was realized under transplanting on ridges over the flat bed; and was largely attributed to 9.8% higher pods/plant. Poly bags raised seedlings transplanted at an early age of 3 weeks on the ridges out yielded over both 4 and 5 weeks. The study also suggested that replacement of missing plants in direct seeding by transplanting poly bags raised seedlings to the extent of 10% under field condition was feasible and economical in comparison to sole transplanting in the entire field at 3 or 4 weeks (of nursery raising). Thus, the study confirmed the feasibility of pigeonpea transplanting and explored the possibility of replacing the gaps in plant population due to direct seeding with transplanting of poly bag grown seedlings for realization of higher yield under field conditions of Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains.