Effect of Soil Fertility Levels and Cow Urine Application on Growth and Quality of Indian Mustard (Brassica juncea L.) under Sub-tropical Conditions of Lucknow, India

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Agriculture Research Farm, Chandra Bhanu Gupta Krishi Mahavidyalaya, Bakshi ka Talab, Lucknow during Rabi 2019-20 to study the effect of soil fertility levels and cow urine application on growth and quality of Indian mustard. The experiment was laid out in split plot design by taking three fertility levels (i,e 50 %, 75% and 100% Recommended dose of fertilizers in main plot and four levels of cow urine i,e 0, 300, 600 and 900 l ha-1 in sub plot which were replicated thrice. To maintain homogeneity water @900,600, 300 and 0 lha-1 The mustard variety “Pro Agro 4001” was uniformly fertilized with urea, diammonium phosphate, murate of potash and elemental sulphur. Among the organic sources cow urine were applied as per the requirement of the treatment. Further, the crop was managed as per regional recommendations of the crop. The experimental study revealed that the among the fertility levels application of 100 % Recommended dose of fertilizers recorded significantly higher plant height, number of functional leaves, leaf area index, number of primary branches, number of secondary branches and dry matter accumulation. However, among the cow urine levels, application of 900 l ha-1 cow urine recorded significantly higher plant height, number of functional leaves, leaf area index, number of primary branches, number of secondary branches and dry matter accumulation which is found to be statistically at par with 600 l ha-1and among the quality parameters, application of 100 % Recommended dose of fertilizers recorded higher oil yield, protein and protein content in mustard and on the other hand application of cow urine @900 l ha-1 recorded higher oil yield, protein and protein content. Thus, for mustard cultivation the application of 100% Recommended dose of fertilizers along with cow urine @900 was found suitable for improving the growth and quality of mustard for obtaining higher production in Lucknow conditions.