EFFECT OF PLANTING GEOMETRY AND FERTILITY LEVEL ON GROWTH AND SEED YIELD OF CLUSTER BEAN [CYAMOPSIS TETRAGONOLOBA (L)] UNDER SCARCE RAINFALL ZONE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

A field experiment was conducted during kharif, 2007 to find out the effect of planting geometry and fertility level on seed yield of clusterbean. From the study it was found that, planting pattern of 45 x 10 cm recorded higher plant height and number of branches per plant, however, it was comparable with 30 x 10 cm planting pattern and significantly superior to 30 x 5 cm planting geometry. However, number of branches per plant, test weight and seed yield did not differ significantly with planting geometry. Fertility level affected plant height significantly. 150 % RDF level recorded higher plant height, however, it was at par with RDF and significantly superior to 50 % RDF and control. However, fertility level did not affect number of pods/plant and test weight significantly. Higher seed yield of 164 kg/ha recorded with 150% RDF, which was statistically comparable with RDF and 50% RDF and significantly superior to control. Thus, it can be concluded that in cluster bean, adoption of 30x10 cm spacing with 50% RDF is recommended for scarce rainfall Zone of Andhra Pradesh.