Legume Research

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Research Article

Legume Research, volume 44 issue 11 (november 2021) : 1308-1314

Growth, Productivity and Profitability of Fodder Sorghum and Cluster Bean as Influenced by Mixed Cropping and Nutrient Management

Ankur Bhakar2,*, Magan Singh1, Sanjeev Kumar1, R.K. Meena1, B.L. Meena2, Rakesh Kumar1, V.K. Meena1
1ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132 001, Haryana, India.
2ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa-110 012, New Delhi, India.
3ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal-132 001, Haryana, India.

  • Submitted19-02-2020|

  • Accepted02-06-2020|

  • First Online 22-08-2020|

  • doi 10.18805/LR-4353

Cite article:- Bhakar Ankur, Singh Magan, Kumar Sanjeev, Meena R.K., Meena B.L., Kumar Rakesh, Meena V.K. (2021). Growth, Productivity and Profitability of Fodder Sorghum and Cluster Bean as Influenced by Mixed Cropping and Nutrient Management . Legume Research. 44(11): 1308-1314. doi: 10.18805/LR-4353.

ABSTRACT

Background: The year round green forage supply for better health and productivity of the animals can be ensured by mixed cropping of cereal and legume forages along with proper nutrient management. Keeping these facts in mind an experiment was carried out to analyse growth, productivity and profitability of fodder sorghum and clusterbean as influenced by mixed cropping and nutrient management.

Methods: Experiment was laid out in factorial randomized complete block design with four seed rate combinations of sorghum and clusterbean (S1 - sole sorghum, S2 - sole clusterbean, S3 - 75% sorghum + 25% clusterbean and S4 - 60% sorghum + 40% clusterbean) along with six nutrient management treatments (N1 - 100% RDF, N2 - 100% RDF + PGPR, N3 - 100% RDF + seaweed extract, N4 - 75% RDF + PGPR, N5 - 75% RDF + seaweed extract and N6 – 50% RDF + PGPR + seaweed extract) in three replications. The growth of crops was evaluated in terms of plant height, leaf length, leaf width, number of leaves, leaf stem ratio and stem girth which all together contributed towards the fodder yield.

Result: In sorghum crop the growth was not statistically different between the treatments S1 and S3 but in clusterbean sole crop recorded higher growth yet the influence was not significant on all parameters. Among nutrient management N1, N2 and N3 treatments recorded higher growth and thus yield in both crops which was not statistically different from N5 treatment. The correlation study indicated that cumulative influence of these growth parameters resulted in higher green and dry fodder yield under sole crop. Whereas in mixed cropping S3 treatment recorded significantly at par fodder yield to S1. The evidence presented above shows that 75% sorghum + 25% clusterbean mixed cropping treatment with 75% RDF + seaweed extract served its purpose of fodder yield enhancement.

INTRODUCTION

Raising of crops along with rearing of animals is the most dominant farming system followed by farmers of India. Despite the huge livestock population of 535.78 million (20th livestock census) the farming system faces problem of decreasing productivity and profitability. One of the main reason behind this is non availability of fodder for meeting the nutritional demand of animals. Although different fodder crops are raised on the farm along with other commercial and food crops in Kharif, Rabi and Zaid seasons to ensure the year round green forage supply for the animals but a mixed cropping of cereal and legume forages can be a wise option to complement feeding of green fodder to the animals for better health and productivity. Feeding a mixture of cereals and legumes may also help to overcome the problem of protein deficiency as well as bloating in animals. Thus the fast growing annual cereal crop sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] having largest area among different fodder crops can be complemented with the short duration annual legume herb, clusterbean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.) popularly known as guar. Sorghum being a warm weather efficient yielding crop utilize the available soil moisture efficiently and can even tolerate moisture stress and high temperature stress due to its drought hardy nature. Forage sorghum stalks being of sweet juicy nature are liked by the animals and can be fed in the form of green fodder, hay and silage. Clusterbean, the complement leguminous crop can be cultivated in summer and Kharif season for the fodder purpose and in this era of decreasing soil fertility the crop improves soil health and fertility by nitrogen fixation and thus reduces the nitrogen requirement. The complementary application of right dose of nutrients through organic (Manures, Bio-fertilizers, seaweeds, etc.) and inorganic sources (Fertilizers) meets the dual purpose of nutrient supply to crop plants and soil biota thus resulting in increased crop yield as well as soil health. So the experiment was carried out with a hypothesis of enhancement in growth, productivity and profitability of sorghum and clusterbean mixed cropping under varying nutrient management.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The experiment was conducted at research farm of Agronomy Section, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal (during Kharif season of 2018) located at 29°45’ N latitude, 76°58’E longitude and at an altitude of 245 m above mean sea level (MSL) having sub-tropical climate. This zone receives rainfall from both southwest and northeast monsoons and faces extremes of both high and low temperature. According to the average meteorological data of 2018 (August to September), the highest rainfall and relative humidity (25.89 mm and 95.57%) was recorded in 39th standard week (24th September-30th September) and there was no rainfall in 37th, 40th and 41st standard weeks during the crop period. The evaporation rate (5.77 mm day-1) and maximum temperature (33.57°C) were highest in 31st standard week during the crop period and highest sunshine hours (9.10) were recorded in 40th standard meteorological week.
       
The soil of the experimental field was clay loam in texture, neutral to alkaline in reaction with low available nitrogen, medium organic carbon, available phosphorus and available potassium. The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized complete block design (FRBD) with four seed rate combinations of sorghum and clusterbean (S1 - sole sorghum, S2 - sole clusterbean, S3 - 75% sorghum + 25% clusterbean and S4 - 60% sorghum + 40% clusterbean) along with six nutrient management treatments (N1 - 100% RDF, N2 - 100% RDF + PGPR, N3 - 100% RDF + seaweed extract, N4 - 75% RDF + PGPR, N5 - 75% RDF + seaweed extract and N6 - 50% RDF + PGPR + seaweed extract)  in three replications. Sorghum was seeded @ 30 kg ha-1 and clusterbean @ 40 kg ha-1. RDF for sorghum and clusterbean were 60 kg N ha-1, 20 kg N ha-1 (half dose as basal), 40 kg P ha-1, 60 kg P ha-1 and 40 kg K ha-1 (full dose as basal), respectively which were supplied through urea, DAP and MOP. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria’s (PGPR’s) liquid culture was used for seed treatment. 50 ml of PGPR inoculant diluted with 1 l of water, was required for application on seeds required for one acre of field. As a source of seaweed extract, Sagarika (a commercial product) was used which was sprayed in early morning hours after the dew has evaporated at the rate of 1-2 ml l-1 of water. All recommended agronomic practices were followed during the cultivation of crops. To record morphological variation among different treatments five plants from the net plot area were randomly selected and tagged. Observations on growth parameters were recorded at 30 DAS and at harvest. Net plot area was harvested separately from each plot, weighed as kg plot-1 and then converted into t ha-1 to record the final green fodder yield. SPSS 19.0 Version was used to analyze the experimental data for its test of significance.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Growth parameters are of pivotal importance in fodder crops as they decide fodder yield. The results of this experiment shows that most growth parameters recorded at 30 DAS were not influenced significantly by seed rate and nutrient management treatments in both sorghum and clusterbean crop (Table 1, 2, 3, 4).
 

Table 1: Effect of seed rate in different seed ratio and nutrient management on plant height and leaf length of sorghum and clusterbean fodder.


 

Table 2: Effect of seed rate in different seed ratio and nutrient management on leaf width and stem girth of sorghum and clusterbean fodder.


 

Table 3: Effect of seed rate in different seed ratio and nutrient management on no. of leaves and leaf stem ratio of sorghum and clusterbean fodder.


 

Table 4: Effect of seed rate in different seed ratio and nutrient management on shoot dry weight and crop growth rate of sorghum and clusterbean fodder.


       
Use of different seed rates in mixed cropping influenced the growth parameters of sorghum and clusterbean. At harvest, in sorghum significantly higher plant height and no. of leaves per plant were noticed under 75% sorghum + 25% clusterbean treatment (209.75 cm and 9.64) which was at par with sole sorghum (208.47 cm and 9.58).Whereas in clusterbean crop, sole clusterbean (91.41 cm) recorded significantly higher plant height which was at par with treatment 60% sorghum + 40% clusterbean (90.22 cm) and also higher no. of leaves but influence was not significant (Table 1, 3). Leaf length was recorded higher in sole crops of sorghum and clusterbean (Table 1) whereas different seed rate treatments failed to exhibit any effect on leaf width and stem girth of sorghum and clusterbean crop to a significant level (Table 2). The adoption of different seed rates (under mixed cropping) did not affect the leaf stem ratio of sorghum and clusterbean to a significant level (Table 3). Sole crop of sorghum and clusterbean recorded higher shoot dry weight (64.19 g and 9.19 g, respectively) but the results were significant only in sorghum crop. Results showed that seed rate treatments failed to make any significant differences on crop growth rate of sorghum as well as clusterbean. 60% sorghum + 40% clusterbean and sole clusterbean recorded maximum crop growth rate of sorghum (3.86 g m-2 day-1) and clusterbean (8.30 g m-2 day-1) (Table 4). Larger leaf size in terms of leaf length and width, shoot dry weight and thicker stem girth were recorded in sole crop of sorghum which might be due to abundant availability of space to spread the crop canopy and minimum competition with component crop. Whereas the increase in plant height, no. of leaves, leaf stem ratio and crop growth rate of sorghum under mixed cropping over its sole sowing might be due to increased competition for sunlight as well as N fixation by clusterbean which promoted growth due to favourable rhizospheric conditions. In contrast to variable results of sorghum, all growth parameters in clusterbean were recorded better under sole crop which might be due to shading, suppressive and competitive effect of sorghum on clusterbean plants. The present findings corroborate with the earlier results obtained by Singh and Balyan (2000), Ayub and Shoaib (2009), Murlidhar (2011) and Ginwal et al., (2019). Green fodder yield and dry matter yield of sole sorghum as well as clusterbean depicted a decreasing trend with decreasing seed rate in the mixed cropping in comparison to their sole crops (Table 5) which might be due to governance by different yield determining growth factors (Fig 1 and 2) as evident from correlation analysis (Table 6 and 7). Significantly higher total green fodder yield and dry matter yield was recorded with sole sorghum (33.14 t ha-1, 6.95 t ha-1) which was at par with seed rate in ratio of 75% sorghum + 25% clusterbean (32.88 t ha-1, 6.91 t ha-1) cropping which might be due to the efficient utilization of all resources like water, space, nutrients and light and also complementary effect of legume on cereal fodder. Surve et al., (2012), Noorbakhshian (2015), Htet et al., (2016) and Hindoriya et al., (2019) also reported similar results.
 

Table 5: Effect of seed rate in different seed ratio and nutrient management on yield (t ha-1) of sorghum and clusterbean fodder at harvest.


 

Table 6: Correlation coefficient (r) between different growth parameters and yield of sorghum fodder at harvest.


 

Table 7: Correlation coefficient (r) between different growth parameters and yield of clusterbean fodder at harvest.


 

Fig 1: Influence of plant height and leaf length on green fodder yield of sorghum.


 

Fig 2: Influence of plant height and leaf length on green fodder yield of clusterbean.


       
While comparing the effect of nutrient management, most of the growth parameters of sorghum at harvest were found to be significantly superior under the application of 100% RDF + seaweed extract but were at par with 100% RDF + PGPR, 100% RDF and 75% RDF + seaweed extract. However, in clusterbean significantly higher growth was recorded under the application of 100% RDF + PGPR which was statistically at par with 100% RDF + seaweed extract, 100% RDF and 75% RDF + seaweed extract (Table 1, 2, 3 and 4). Better growth with higher level of nutrients might be due to higher uptake of nutrients which leads to higher meristematic activity in turn to better shoot and root growth which further increases soil water uptake, photosynthetic rate, etc. Similar results were also obtained by Kumhar et al., (2012), Ibrahim et al., (2016), Shivprasad and Singh (2017) and Tamta et al., (2019).
       
Green fodder yield and dry matter yield also followed the decreasing trend with the decreasing dose of RDF as like other growth parameters because of their correlation with them. Thus total green fodder and dry matter yield was recorded statistically higher under 100% RDF + seaweed extract (29.51 t ha-1 and 6.16 t ha-1) over the treatments N4 and N6, but remained at par with 100% RDF + PGPR (29.36 t ha-1, 6.13 t ha-1), 100% RDF (29.13 t ha-1, 6.09 t ha-1) and 75% RDF + seaweed extract (28.69 t ha-1, 6.01 t ha-1). Increasing trend in green fodder yield with increasing levels and integrated use of nutrient sources was reported in both sorghum and clusterbean crop which might be attributed to the fact that higher supply of all nutrients (macro and micro) resulted in higher uptake which stimulated the rate of different yield contributing factors like plant height, leaf area, no. of leaves, etc. in plants and thus contributed to higher dry matter accumulation and yield. Present findings are in tune with that of Hamidi et al., (2006), Yadav et al., (2007) and Dutta et al., (2019).
       
The practical usability of any treatment is judged by the net returns and returns gained per rupee invested, i.e., benefit cost ratio. So with this objective, the economics of different treatments was worked out (Table 8). Results depicted that maximum net returns and B: C ratio was recorded in S3N1 treatment (₹ 34658.47 ha-1 and 1.92) which were narrowly followed by S3N2 (₹ 34221.85 ha-1 and 1.86), S3N3 (₹ 34039.99 ha-1 and 1.79) and S3N5 (₹ 33331.83 ha-1 and 1.84). This might be due to incorporation of clusterbean with sorghum which helped in achieving nutrient economy. Surve et al., (2012) and Hindoriya et al., (2019) also reported similar finding in cereal and legume mixtures.
 

Table 8: Effect of seed rate in different seed ratio and nutrient management on economics.

CONCLUSION

In this era of food feed competition mixed cropping of cereal with legume fodder results in fodder yield enhancement. Also a portion of RDF can be substituted by organic sources of nutrients like PGPR and seaweed extract as positive effect of integration was noticed on economics as well as on growth parameters and yield of both crops. In summary 75% sorghum + 25% clusterbean mixed cropping treatment with 75% RDF + seaweed extract remained productive as well as profitable. For future line of work, as like sorghum and clusterbean different cereal and legume fodder crops integration can be explored location wise along with proper dose and sources of nutrients for better production.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors are obliged to Director, ICAR-NDRI, Karnal for providing necessary facilities and financial assistance for carrying out this study.

REFERENCES


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