Productivity of Blackgram (Vigna mungo L.) Influence by Biofertilizers and Variable Sources of Nutrients

Blackgram (Vigna mungo L.) is an important pulse crop with a short duration in the kharif and summer seasons in India. Biofertilizer application seed treatment plays a crucial role in the fixation of nitrogen, converting unavailable phosphorous to an available form, increasing nutrient uptake and reducing crop stress. Inorganic fertilizer with a combined application of organic manure to sustainable crop production and soil health.

The field experiment was conducted at Agronomy Research Farm, Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj, Ayodhya, during the kharif season 2023 and 2024 under the factorial randomized block design with three replications. The treatments (Factor A) biofertilizers viz. B1: PGPR (Seed treatment @20 g kg^-1 Seed), B₂: PSB (Seed treatment @20 g kg^-1 Seed) and B₃: PGPR + PSB (Seed treatment each @20 g kg^-1 Seed) and (Factor B) Variable source of nutrients viz. N₀: Control, N₁: 100% RDF (Inorganic Fertilizer), N₂: 75% RDF + Vermicompost @1 tonne ha^-1, N₃: 75% RDF + Enriched FYM @ 2 tonne ha^-1 and N₄: 50% RDF + Vermicompost @1 tonne ha^-1 + Enriched FYM @ 2 tonne ha^-1.

The experimental results two years pooled values were revealed under investigation. The seed treatment with PGPR + PSB (seed treatment each @ 20 g kg^-1 seed) was observed to have the highest plant height (24.32, 49.29 cm), number of primary branches (3.41, 5.90 plant^-1), leaf area index (3.33, 4.70) and dry matter accumulations (3.10, 7.76 g plant^-1) at 45 DAS and 60 DAS. Yield attributes viz. no. of pods (32.87 plant^-1), pod length plant^-1 (5.93 cm), no. of seeds (5.31 pod^-1), grains weight pod^-1 (0.239 g), grain yield (1,365.71 kg ha^-1), stover yield (2,690.94 kg ha^-1) and harvest index (33.61%) respectively. The application of 50% RDF + vermicompost @ 1 tonne ha^-1 + enriched FYM @ 2 tonne ha^-1 was observed to achieve the highest plant height (24.51, 51.93 cm), number of primary branches (3.57, 6.52 plant^-1), leaf area index (3.46, 4.93) and dry matter accumulations (3.19, 8.27 g plant^-1) at 45 DAS and 60 DAS. Yield attributes viz. no. of pods (33.87 plant^-1), pod length plant^-1 (6.05 cm), no. of seeds (5.57 pod^-1), grains weight pod^-1 (0.251 g), grain yield (1,492.68 kg ha^-1), stover yield (2,921.82 kg ha^-1) and harvest index (33.80%) respectively.