Effect of Boron and Zinc on Growth and Yield of Cowpea (Vigna ungiculata L.) in Gwalior Region of Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during the rainy (kharif) season of 2024 at Crop Research Centre-1 (CRC-1) of ITM University Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, to evaluate the effect of boron and zinc on Growth and Yield of Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) in Gwalior region of Madhya Pradesh. Ten treatments, viz., T1-Control, T2-5 kg ZnSO4 as Basal application (BA), T3-5 kg ZnSO4 +0.5% ZnSO4 as Foliar spray (FS) at 25 DAS, T4-5kg ZnSO4 +0.5% ZnSO4 +0.2% Solubor as  (FS) at 45 DAS, T5-7.5kg ZnSO4  as (BA), T6-7.5kg ZnSO4 +0.5% ZnSO4 as (FS) at 25 DAS, T7-7.5kg ZnSO4 +0.5% ZnSO4 +0.2% Solubor as (FS) at 45 DAS, T8-10 kg ZnSO4 as (BA), T9-10 kg ZnSO4 +0.5% ZnSO4 as (FS) at 25 DAS, T10-10kg ZnSO4 +0.5% ZnSO4 +0.2% Solubor as (FS) at 45 DAS were tested in a randomized block design with 3 replications. The growth, yield attributes and yield of cowpea were significantly influenced by the different treatments. Resulted that growth parameters (viz., plant height (cm), number of branches per plant-1, leaf area index, dry matter accumulation (g m-2 area), yield attributes (viz., no. of pods plant-1, pod length, no. of seeds pod-1), yield (viz., seed (1390 kg ha-1), biological (3475 kg ha-1), harvest index (40.0%) increased through the basal application of  10 kg ZnSO4 and foliar application of ZnSO4 @ 0.5% at 25 DAS +  Solubor @ 0.2% at 45 DAS (T10) while, the lowest was found in control (T1).