AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE

www.arccjournals.com / indianjournals.comLegume Res., 36 (4) : 323 - 330, 2013

RESPONSE OF PIGEONPEA(CAJANUS CAJAN) + MUNGBEAN (PHASEOLUSRADIATUS) INTERCROPPING SYSTEM TO

PHOSPHORUS AND BIOFERTILIZERS

Jitendra Kumar Malik, Ravindra Singh* , O.V.S. Thenua and Anil Kumar1

Amar Singh (P.G.) College,Lakhaoti, Bulandshahr- 245 407, India

Received: 16-03-2012 Accepted: 11-09-2012

ABSTRACTA field investigation was carried out during the kharif season of 2005-06 and 2006-07. Present

study revealed that inter cropping of mungbean did not show adverse effect on the growth attributes,yield attributes and yield of pigeonpea. Phosphorus application @ 40 and 80 kg P2O5/ha and seedinoculation with Rhizobium and Rhizobium + Phosphorus Solubalizing Bacteria (PSB) significantlyimproved growth and yield attributes and grain yield of pigeonpea and pigeonpea + mungbeaninter-cropping system. Cropping system (intercropping) markedly recorded higher pigeonpeaequivalent yield (1451 and 1751 kg/ha) over sole pigeonpea (1235 and 1476 kg/ha) in both the years,respectively. The intercropping of mungbean in pigeonpea did not affect grain yield of pigeonpea(1194 and 1443 kg/ha) and instead gave an additional grain yield of mungbean (237 and 256 kg/ha).This additional grain yield of mungbean along with pigeonpea grain yield significantly producedhigher pigeonpea equivalent yield (1451 and 1719 kg/ha) over sole pigeonpea as well as sole mungbean.The pigeonpea + mungbean intercropping system recorded significantly higher organic carbon insoil over sole pigeonpea. The phosphorus applied to crops markedly enhanced organic carbon,available P and K content of soil after the harvest of pigeonpea and mungbean.

Key words: Biofertilizers, Intercropping, Mungbean, Phosphorus, Pigeonpea.

*Corresponding author’s e-mail: mahla_rs@yahoo.com; Address: NRC on Seed Spices Tabiji Ajmer-3052061 IASRI, Pusa New Delhi-110012

INTRODUCTIONThe productivity levels of pulses in India lies

between 600-650 kg/ha-1, which is far below whencompared with average productivity of the world.Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.) is a most vitalpulse crop after chickpea in India and grown mostlyin tropical and sub- tropical parts of the country assole crop, intercrop, mixed crop and in sequentialcropping systems for grain and stover purposes. Theyield of pigeonpea is limited by a number of factorssuch as agronomic, pathogenic, entomological,genetic and their interaction with environment. Thecurrent shortage of pulses in India has stimulatedthought on developing new pigeonpea basedintercropping systems. Intercropping is an intensiveland use system for increasing the productivity byutilizing the spaces left between the rows of main orbase crop. Pigeonpea can be grown under widerrange of ecological situations mainly due to its deep

rooting system and drought tolerant characters. Slowgrowth of pigeonpea upto 45-60 days with widerrow spacing makes it specially suitable crop forintercropping with short duration crops. Pigeonpeaintercropped with short duration pulses likemungbean (Phaseolus radiatus) is most suitablecombination as they differ in growth and durationto complete the life cycle. Being legumes, pigeonpeaand mungbean play an important role in nitrogeneconomy in the cropping systems by virtue of theirability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in symbioticassociation with Rhizobium (Ahlawat et al., 1985).Therefore, there is no need to apply much nitrogenfrom external sources, but phosphorus is animportant and limiting nutrient for legumes.However, phosphate anions are extremely reactiveand may be immobilized through precipitation withcations such as Ca2+ , Mg2+ , Fe3+ and Al3+ dependingof the properties of soil. In these forms, P is highly

324 LEGUME RESEARCH

insoluble and unavailable to plants. As a result the Pefficiency is reduced to 15-20%. PhosphorusSolubalizing Bacteria (PSB) helps in mineralizationof insoluble forms of P to an accessible forms byproduction of organic acids and acid phosphatisesthrough acidification of microbial cells and itssurroundings. Keeping in view the importance ofintercropping system to increase the productivity ofpulses per unit land area and the scope formanagement of P nutrition and biofertilizers(Rhizobium and PSB), the present experiment wasconducted to optimize the phosphorus andbiofertilizers needs in pigeonpea + mungbeanintercropping system.

MATERIALS AND METHODSA field experiment was conducted at

Research Farm of Amar Singh (P.G.) College,Lakhaoti, Bulandshahr (U.P.) during the summerseason of 2005-06 and 2006-07 on sandy loam soil.The farm site is located (280N latitude, 77’E longitudeand 201.48 m above MSL) between the belt of Doabof Ganga and Yamuna in western Uttar Pradeshand this area is known to be suitable for cropproduction. The soil was low in organic carbon (0.33and 0.35%), available nitrogen (156.6 and 153.3kg/ha), available phosphorus (9.10 and 9.45 kg/ha)and potassium (200.7 and 202.3 kg/ha) with nearlyneutral pH (7.45 and 7.43) at 0-30 cm soil depthduring 2005 and 2006, respectively. The experimentwas laid out in split-plot design with three replications,keeping the cropping system and phosphorus levelsin main plot and bioferti lizers in sub-plots.Treatments consisted of three intercropping systemviz., sole pigeonpea, sole mungbean and pigeonpea+ mungbean with three levels of phosphorus viz., 0,40 and 80 kg P2O5/ha and three levels of biofertilizersviz., control, Rhizobium and Rhizobium + PSB. Auniform basal dose of 25 kg N/ha through urea andthe entire dose of phosphorus through singlesuperphosphate as per treatments were applied atthe time of sowing. The seeds of pigeonpea andmungbean were inoculated with Rhizobium and PSBculture containing inoculums of Pseudomonas striataas per treatments. The seed rate was 15 and 20 kg/ha for pigeonpea (cv. UPAS-120) and mungbean(cv. Vishal), respectively during both the years.Pigeonpea and mungbean were sown in rows 60and 30 cm apart, respectively on 8th May, 2005 and1st May, 2006. Mungbean was intercropped between

two rows of pigeonpea. The mungbean washarvested on 4th August in 2005 and 31 July in 2006.The pigeonpea crop was harvested in third week ofNovember in both the years. After harvest ofpigeonpea, soil samples were collected from eachplot for chemical analysis. The concentration of Nand P in plant and soil samples were estimated bymicro-kjeldhal, Alkaline Permanganate Method,Olsen’s method and vanadomolybdate yellow colourmethods. The pigeonpea equivalent yield wascomputed by converting the mungbean yield topigeonpea yield, based on their market prices. Thedata collected from the experiment were subjectedto statistical test by following ‘Analysis of variancetechnique’ as suggested by Cochran and Cox (1957).Wherever variance ratio (‘f’ value) was significant,critical difference (CD) values at 5% level ofprobability were computed for making comparisonbetween treatments.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONPigeonpeaGrowth attributes: The intercropping system failedto affect the plant height and number of branches/plant of pigeonpea (Table 1). This might be due tothe absence of competition between main crop(pigeonpea) and the intercrop (mungbean) forresources such as nutrients, solar radiation andmoisture because of shorter duration and nonspreading nature of mungbean. The results are inclose conformity with the findings of Kantwa et al.(2005). Application of phosphorus @ 40 kg/ha P2O5significantly improved plant height and number ofbranches/plant of pigeonpea by 15.6 and 8.5 %during 2005-06 and 14.4 and 12.9% during 2006-07, respectively over control. The overallimprovement in growth of pigeonpea with theapplication of phosphorus could be ascribed to itspivotal role in several physiological and biochemicalprocesses of root development, photosynthesis,energy transfer reaction (ATP and ADP) andsymbiotic biological nitrogen fixation process(Tisdale et al., 1995). The improvement in growthattributes of pigeonpea with application ofphosphorus has also been reported by Kantwa et al.(2005). Seed inoculation with Rhizobium + PSB,significantly produced taller plants and more numberof branches/ plant over control and Rhizobiuminoculation alone (Table 1) of pigeonpea. Thisresponse of Rhizobium + PSB on growth attributes

325Vol. 36, No. 4, 2013

could be attributed to the higher availability ofnitrogen and phosphorus in soil. These results arein line with the findings of Jat et al., (2000) and Jatand Ahlawat (2003).

Yield attributes and yield: Cropping systems hadno effect on yield attributes viz., number of pods/plant, number of seeds/pod, 1,000 seed weight andgrain yield of pigeonpea (Table 1). This could beattributed to the similar conditions of plant growthand development of pigeonpea as it was also evidentin growth parameters (plant height, and numbers ofbranches/plant). Application of phosphorus @ 40and 80 kg P2O5/ ha being at par produced higheryield attributes over control. Application ofphosphorus @ 40 kg/ha significantly increased thenumber of pods/plant and number of seed/pod ofpigeonpea by 10.4 and 14.5 % during 2005 and11.1 and 15.8 % during 2006, respectively ascompared to no phosphorus application. Theimprovement in yield parameters might have resultedfrom favorable influence of phosphorus nutrition onthe growth attributing characters (plant height, andbranches / plant) finally leading to greater nutrientuptake, efficient partitioning of metabolites,adequate translocation and accumulation ofphotosynthates (Tisdale et al. , 1995). Theobservations of the present study are in line with thefindings of Kantwa et al. (2005). Seed inoculationwith Rhizobium + PSB significantly improvednumber of pods/plant and number of seeds/pod ofpigeonpea by 7.7 and 6.4% during 2005 and 8.2and 10.9% during 2006, respectively as comparedto Rhizobium inoculation alone (Table 1). Thisincrease in yield attributes might be due to the factthat phosphorus and nitrogen are involved in manyplant processes like chlorophyll formation,reproduction and energy formation in the form ofATP and ADP.

Intercropping of mungbean with pigeonpeadid not show adverse effect on the grain yield ofpigeonpea. The growth and development ofpigeonpea in sole and intercropping system wassimilar and having different feeding zone of nutrientand water absorption which was finally reflected inyield attributes and yield of pigeonpea. Kantwa etal. (2005) also observed similar behaviour inpigeonpea + mungbean intercropping system.Application of phosphorus @ 40 kg P2O5/ha

significantly improved seed yield of pigeonpea by20.4 and 16.1% during 2005 and 2006 over control,whereas the differences between 40 and 80 kg P2O5/ha were non significant. The increase in seed yieldof pigeonpea due to application of phosphorus waslargely a function of improved growth andtranslocation of more photosynthates towards sinkand consequent development of yield attributes.These results are in close conformity with the workof Jat and Ahlawat (2003) and Chaudhari andGavhane (2005). Seed inoculation with Rhizobium+ PSB significantly improved seed yield ofpigeonpea by 38.6 and 35.0% compared to controland by 21.8 and 21.1% compared to Rhizobiuminoculation alone during 2005 and 2006,respectively. Rhizobium might help in fast rootnodulation and fixed more nitrogen in the roots ofthe plant and phosphate solubalizing bacteria protectconversion of applied and native availablephosphorus into unavailable forms and solubilizeorganic phosphorus to available forms whichresulted in increasing availability of phosphorus forproper vital functions, resulted in improvement ingrowth, yield attributes and yield of pigeonpea.

MungbeanGrowth attributes: The intercropping system failedto affect the plant height and number of branches/plant of mungbean (Table 2). This might be due tothe absence of competition between main crop(pigeonpea) and the intercrop (mungbean) forgrowth inputs such as nutrients, solar radiation andmoisture because of shallow root system, shorterduration and non spreading nature of mungbean.The results of the present investigation are in closeconformity with the findings of Kantwa et al. (2005).The application of phosphorus resulted in improvedgrowth attributes and this might be due to easyavailability of applied phosphorus for proper rootdevelopment, root nodulation, photosynthesis andenergy transfer processes. Thus, improved P nutritioncontributed to better plant growth of mungbean.Seed inoculation with Rhizobium + PSB,significantly produced taller plants and highernumber of branches/ plant over control andRhizobium inoculation alone during both the years(Table 2). This might be due to more availability ofnitrogen through Rhizobium for protein andphotosynthesis and phosphorus through PSB for

326 LEGUME RESEARCH

TAB

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327Vol. 36, No. 4, 2013

TAB

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328 LEGUME RESEARCH

proper root development, nodulation and energytransfer process. Hence, greater N fixation coupledwith improved P nutrition could have contributed tothe better plant growth.

Yield attributes and yield: Cropping systems hadnon significant effect on yield attributes viz., seed/pod and 1,000 seed weight (Table 2) but solemungbean produced significantly higher pods/plantover intercropping system. Application of phosphorus@ 40 kg/ha P2O5 enhanced pods/plant and seed/pod of mungbean as compared with control (Table2). This might be due to favourable effect ofphosphorus nutrition on growth attributes viz, plantheight and branches/plant. Seed inoculated withRhizobium + PSB, increased the pods/plant andseed/pod of mungbean over Rhizobium alone (Table2). This might be due to the fact that Rhizobium +PSB increased the avai labili ty of nitrogen,phosphorus and certain growth promotinghormones, resulted in better growth attributes finallyled to higher values of yield attributes. These resultsare in conformity with the results of , Jat and Ahlawat(2003) and Kantwa et, al. (2006).

Sole mungbean produced significantly highergrain yield of mungbean as compared tointercropping with pigeonpea (Table 3). This couldbe attributed to higher plant population in solemungbean (30 cm row spacing) as compared tointercropped with pigeonpea (60 cm row spacing).This ultimately enhanced the grain yield in solemungbean over the intercropped mungbean. Thesignificant increase in seed yield of mungbean byphosphorus application was largely a function ofimproved growth and yield parameters leading tobetter nutrient uptake, adequate accumulation ofphotosynthates and consequent increased in yieldattributing character and ultimately the yield. Seedtreatment with Rhizobium + PSB also enhancedseed yield significantly by 75.0 and 55.3 %compared with control and 61.1 and 71.01 %compared with Rhizobium alone during 2005 and2006, respectively (Table 2). This increase might bedue to cumulative effect of increased growth andyield attributes as well as increased nitrogen andphosphorus uptake of mungbean.

Pigeonpea equivalent yield: The intercroppingof mungbean in pigeonpea did not affect grain yieldof pigeonpea and instead produced additional grain

yield of mungbean. This additional grain yield ofmungbean along with pigeonpea grain yieldsignificantly produced higher pigeonpea equivalentyield over sole pigeonpea as well as sole mungbean.The percent increase in pigeonpea equivalent yielddue to intercropping was 65.4 and 16.8% in 2005and 91.0 and 16.4% in 2006 as compared withpigeonpea sole and mungbean sole, respectively.Similar results were also reported by Kantwa et al.(2006). The per cent increase in pigeonpeaequivalent yield with 40 and 80 kg P2O5/ha over nophosphorus was 34.1 and 41.3% in 2005 and 27.6and 37.7% in 2006, respectively. This might beattributed to increase in yield of both componentcrops (pigeonpea and mungbean) with phosphorusapplication. Similar observation were also reportedKantwa et al. (2006). Seed inoculations withRhizobium, Rhizobium + PSB had marked influenceon pigeonpea equivalent yield over no inoculation(Table 3). This could be attributed to the fact thatRhizobium and Rhizobium + PSB significantlyincreased the grain yield of pigeonpea andmungbean, which finally led to significant increasein pigeonpea equivalent yield. Similar results werealso reported by Jat and Ahlawat (2003).

Soil fertility: The pigeonpea + mungbeanintercropping system recorded significantly higherorganic carbon in soil over sole pigeonpea andmungbean during both the years (Table 3). Thismight be because of more addition of organic matterby combined cultivation of both the crops than theirsole cultivation. The intercropping system failed toincrease available N, P and K in soil over solecultivation of pigeonpea and mungbean. This mightbe due to absence of competition between main cropand the intercrop (mungbean) for these nutrientsbecause of shorter duration and less respondingnature of mungbean to nutrients. The phosphorusapplied to crops markedly enhanced organic carbon,available P and K content of soil after the harvest ofcrops. Increase in organic carbon and available Kin soil at harvest of crops might be due to moreaddition of organic matter to the soil and moredecomposition of roots in soil. Whereas increase inP content in soil at harvest of crops resulted fromdirect relationship between added P and availableP content of soil. Seed inoculation with Rhizobiumand Rhizobium + PSB recorded significantly higher

329Vol. 36, No. 4, 2013

TAB

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330 LEGUME RESEARCH

organic carbon in soil after the harvest of crops.However, available N and K in soil after the harvestof crops did not differ significantly by boifertilizerapplication. Further, the root system of legumes hascapacity to solubilize soil phosphorus throughexcretion of amino acids and encourage the growthand multiplication of soil microbes which finally ledto mineralization of unavailable P to available P insoil. The results corporate the findings of Katyal etal. (2003).

Hence it can be concluded from twoyears study that intercropping of mungbeanwith pigeonpea not only gave higher pigeonpeaequivalent yield but also improved soil fertilitythan sowing of sole crops. Application of 40kg P2O 5/ha and seed i no cu lat i on w i t hRhizobium + PSB also gave higher pigeonpeaequivalent grain yield wi th improved soi lfertility.

REFERENCESAhlawat, I.P.S., Saraf, C.S. and Singh, A. (1985). Production potential of summer and rainy season pigeonpea intercropped

with cowpea and green gram. Indian J. Agric. Sci., 55: 565-569.Chaudhari, P.R. and Gavhane, V.N. (2005). Effects of phosphate solubilizing biofertilizers on growth, nutrient uptake

and yield of pigeonpea cv. ICPL-87. Research-on-Crops, 6(3): 454-456.Cochran, W.G. and Cox, G.M. (1957). Experimental Designs. 2nd edition, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York.Jat, H.S., Ahlawat, I.P.S. and Jat, M.L. (2000). Effect of land layouts, post-monsoon irrigation and fertilizers on

nutrient uptake, water use efficiency and soil moisture extraction pattern by pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan). Journalof Farming System Research and Development 6(1&2): 138-141.

Jat, H.S. and Ahlawat, I.P.S. (2003). Response of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) + groundnut (Arachis hypogaea)intercropping system to planting and phosphorus management. Indian Journal of Agronomy 48(3): 156-159.

Kantwa, S.R., Ahlawat, I.P.S. and Gangaih, B. (2005). Effect of land configuration, post-monsoon irrigation andphosphorus on performance of sole and intercropped pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan). Indian Journal of Agronomy50(4): 278-280.

Kantwa, S.R., Ahlawat, I.P.S. and Gangaiah, B. (2006). Performance of Sole and inter cropped pigeonpea (Cajanuscajan) as influenced by land configuration, post-monsoon irrigation and phosphorus fertilization. Indian Journalof Agronomy 76(10): 635-637.

Tisdale, S.L, Nelson, W.L., Beaton, J.D. and Havlin, J.L. (1995) Soil Fertility and Fertilizers. Fifth Edition, New Delhi,Prentice hall of India Pvt Ltd, pp 62-75.