ABSTRACT

A field experiment was conducted at the Regional Agriculture Research Station, Vijayapura to study the influence of land configuration and foliar sprays on moisture conservation and yield of pigeonpea during kharif 2023. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design, assigning three land configurations to the main plot viz., broad bed and furrow (BBF), conservation furrow and flatbed, and five foliar sprays to subplots viz., 2% Urea, 1% KNO3, 0.4% nano-DAP, 1% 19:19:19 and control (water), and was replicated thrice. Foliar sprays were furnished during P4 (Initiation of flowering) and P6 (50% podding) stages. The results revealed that sowing of pigeonpea under BBF with a foliar spray of 1 % KNO3 during the critical stages fetched a 15-20 % higher pigeonpea grain yield over flatbed with water spray treatment combination. Similarly, the stalk yield (3833 kg ha-1), biological yield (5129 kg ha-1), grain weight per plant (52.7 g plant-1), number of pods per plant (111) were significantly higher for BBF with 1% KNO3 spray. Higher yield and yield related parameters were mainly attributed to the better moisture conservation in BBF and potassium (K), being an osmoticum has maintained the osmotic balance, enzyme activities and stomatal regulation in the plant, to build resilience against drought. Such traits have ensured the plant to survive moisture stress under late sown conditions and have significantly improved the growth attributes, gas exchange measurements, water related traits, biochemical parameters and drought tolerance indices over all the other treatments. Proline content whereas, was high in the 2 % urea spray. Next to 1 % KNO3 and 1 % 19:19:19 foliar application of 0.4% nano-DAP and 2 % urea were significant and yielded higher than the control confirming that the use of drought proofing is inevitable at late sown water stress conditions in pigeonpea.