Legume Research

Organic production of cluster bean is to contribute to the enhancement of production sustainability along with ecology. Sustainability in organic farming must therefore be seen in a holistic sense, which includes ecological, economic and social aspects. A synergistic effectof bio fertilizer with crop increases the crop productivity and sustainability also. Bio fertilizers are low cost, effective and renewable sources of plant nutrients to supplement chemical fertilizers. Therfore to overcome the ill effect of chemical based farming, organic system is becoming the emerging need of the society.

A field experiment was carried out in Pusa Navbahar variety of clusterbean during summer season (February to May) of 2019 at College farm, College of Horticulture, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Jagudan, Dist. Mehsana, Gujarat, India. Sixteen treatments having various combinations of organic sources of nutrients (FYM, vermicompost and neem cake), bio fertilizers (Rhizobium + PSB + KSM) along with RDF (20/40/0 kg/ha) as a control. They were replicated thrice in a randomized block design having a plot size of 3.0 m × 2.0 m with a spacing of 60 cm × 20 cm. Standard practices were followed during the entire course of the investigation.

It showed highly significant differences among different treatments for majority of the growth and yield attributing traits, but treatment T₆ (75% N through FYM + Rhizobium + PSB + KSM) was rated as the best treatment for characters like days taken for germination, number of root nodules per plant, plant height at 60 DAS (cm), number of pod per cluster, number of cluster per plant, green pod yield per plant (g), green pod yield per plot (kg) and green pod yield per hectare (kg) as compared to other treatment. It can be concluded that the organic nutrient management in cluster bean with the application of 75% N through FYM + Rhizobium + PSB + KSM is beneficial for obtaining a higher yield.