An experiment consisting of four phosphorus levels (0, 40, 60 and 80 kg/ha P2O5) and five zinc levels (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 kg/ha ZnSO4) was laid out in &nbsp;randomized block design in factorial mode to find out the effect on yield and quality of fodder cowpea [Vigna Unguiculata (L.)Walp.]. Growth parameters viz. plant height, number of leaves, number of branches, leaf length, leaf width and leaf stem ratio were improved with the application of &nbsp;60 kg/ha P2O5 and 20 kg/ha ZnSO4. Application of 60 kg/ha phosphorus recorded 27.64 t/ha yield, which was 7.50 and 55.6 % higher than 40 kg/ha and no phosphorus application, respectively. Application of zinc in the form of ZnSO4 @ 20 kg/ha increased significantly the green fodder yield (25.89 t/ha). Interaction effect of phosphorus and zinc application was found significant with respect to green fodder, dry matter yield and nutrient uptake. Yield, phosphorus and zinc uptake in cowpea fodder were showing declining trend at combination of application rate more than 60 kg/ha P2O5 and 20 kg/ha ZnSO4.

Effect of phosphorus and zinc nutrition on growth and yield of fodder cowpea

<div>Background: Soils of North-Western Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP) are deficient in zinc content which may lead to lower forage yield of cowpea. Henceforth, the adequate supply of zinc either through soil or foliar spray and selection of suitable cultivar of cowpea could enhance the fodder productivity. 
 
Methods: A field experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design during Kharif season, 2019 to assess the effect of different zinc management practices (control; 10 kg ZnSO4; 20 kg ZnSO4; 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray at 20 DAS; 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray at 20 and 40 DAS) on productivity and profitability of cowpea cultivars (C-152; MFC-08-14; MFC-09-1) and post-harvest fertility status of soil. 
 
Result: Cowpea cv. C-152 showed the highest growth attributes, green fodder yield, nutrient content as well as uptake and net returns. Among different zinc management practices, the application of 20 kg ZnSO4 as basal application or 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray at 20 and 40 DAS recorded significantly highest growth, green fodder yield, nutrient content as well as uptake and net returns. Significantly highest soil OC, available N, K and Zn were also noted under these treatments. It is inferred that cowpea cv. C-152 and application of either 20 kg ZnSO4 as basal or 0.5% ZnSO4 as foliar spray at 20 and 40 DAS were found the most productive and profitable approach and sustained the soil fertility status.</div>

<div>Productivity and Profitability of Fodder Cowpea Cultivars under Various Zinc Management Practices in IGP of India</div>

<div>Background: Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] has emerged out as a potential crop for meeting the requirement of high quality fodder to fast expanding cattle population. There is a large gap between the demand and supply of green fodder during the lean period which can be narrowed down through the agronomic approaches. Among them, time of sowing and fertilizer application are considered to be the most important factors determining the production potential of the crop. Keeping this in view, the present investigation was taken up in order to find out the optimum time of sowing along with the optimum dose of phosphorus for the production of fodder cowpea. 
 
Methods: The present experiment was undertaken during summer, 2019 on sandy loam soils of dryland farm, S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati. Three time of sowing viz., I fortnight (FN) of January, II FN of January and I FN of February assigned to main plots and four levels of phosphorus viz., 0, 20, 40 and 60 kg P2O5 allotted to subplots with three replications were maintained under split plot design.&nbsp; 
 
Result: The plant height, number of leaves plant-1, number of branches plant-1, dry-matter production and number of nodules plant-1, leaf to stem ratio and green fodder yield were higher with early sown crop i.e. I FN of January. Application of 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 resulted in significant improvement in the growth parameters, yield attributes and yield of fodder cowpea, while the lowest were recorded under control conditions (0 kg P2O5 ha-1). The interaction between time of sowing and phosphorus levels influencing the above parameters was found to be non-significant. In conclusion, the present investigation revealed that fodder cowpea gives optimum green fodder yield with high nutritional quality on sown during I FN of January with 60 kg P2O5 ha-1.</div>

Effect of Sowing Window and Phosphorus Levels on Growth and Yield of Summer Fodder Cowpea

<div>Background: Agriculture and its allied sectors is an important sector in employment, income and food security. The increasing demands for food grains and cash crops, the area under fodder crops has been static since last 3-4 decades (8.4 mha) resulted into a net deficit in dry and green fodder is around 10 and 35%, respectively making livestock rearing more challenging. Conventional agriculture has largelybeen characterized by conventional tillage which caused soil degradation and negative impacts on soil physical and biological activity. To mitigate these negative effects, resource conservation technologies (RCTs) was tested and adopted to save substantial quantity of irrigation water, reducing the cost of cultivation, timely sowing, improve input use efficiency and left indirect effect on mitigating the adverse effect of climate changes. Biological N2 fixation (BNF) can make plants self-sustaining for N nutrition and avoiding the need for mineral N fertilization. The current study aimed enhancing fodder production by adoption of modern tillage practices and efficient N management. 
 
Methods: In this field-laboratory investigation during 2017-18, experiment &nbsp;was &nbsp;laid &nbsp;out &nbsp;in &nbsp;the &nbsp;split &nbsp;plot &nbsp;design consisting &nbsp;of &nbsp;three tillage &nbsp;practices &nbsp;zero tillage (ZT), conventional tillage (CT) and raised bed (RB) and six N management viz., &nbsp;N0, &nbsp;N75, N75+Rhizo, &nbsp;N100, &nbsp;N100+Rhizo and N125%. The soil of the experimental field was clay loam in texture having pH 7.30, EC; 0.35 dS/m, medium in organic carbon (0.63%), low in nitrogen (188.48 kg/ha), medium in phosphorus (23.56 kg/ha) and potassium (271.12 kg/ha). The recommended dose of fertilizer and other cultural practices was applied as per treatments with standard process. The crop was harvested at 60 days after sowing and weighed for green fodder yield. The observations growth, yields and quality parameters was recorded as per the standard method. Statistical analysis was done using analysis of variance in split plot design. 
 
Result: ZT practices significantly improved growth attributes, fodder yield and available nitrogen. &nbsp;Higher fodder yield of cowpea was recorded with ZT as compared to CT and it was statistically similar in RB. The nitrogen management practices had significant effect on root length and root nodules, plant growth attributes, fodder yield and available N, P and K. The significant fodder yield was increase with successive increase of N application up to 75% N + rhizobium, over 0 and 75% N alone. The present work shows that adoption of ZT and inoculation of rhizobia had significantly improved soil health and stabilized fodder yield of cowpea besides decrease fertilizer nitrogen requirement in the irrigated agro-ecosystem of T-IGP.</div>

<div>Effect of Rhizobium Inoculation and Tillage Practices on Fodder Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata)&nbsp;</div>

Phosphorus is a key nutrient for increasing productivity of legumes. It is required for plant growth and root development. Phosphorus deficiency in soil is widespread and crops grown under deficient situation show significant response to fertilizer phosphorus. At several places normal yield of crops could not be achieved despite judicious use of NPK fertilizers due to deficiency of micronutrients in soil, in general, that of Zn in particular. The knowledge regarding the use of optimum dose of nutrients especially Phosphorus and Zinc is of serious concern. The literature about the performance of fodder cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) in relation to phosphorus and zinc nutrition is reviewed in this paper.

Phosphorus and zinc fertilization in fodder cowpea - A review

An experiment consisting of four phosphorus levels (0, 40, 60 and 80 kg P2O5/ha) and five zinc levels (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 kg/ha ZnSO4) was laid out in factorial RBD to find out the economics of fodder cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.)Walp) production. Application of 60 kg/ha phosphorus recorded maximum net income (Rs. 28187.33) and B: C ratio (2.12) were recorded with application of 60 kg P2O5/ha. Highest net income (Rs. 26333.75) was recorded with 30 kg ZnSO4/ha and B: C ratio (2.06) were recorded with application of with 20 kg ZnSO4/ha. At mean physical (78.20 kg P2O5/ha) and economic (69.78 kg P2O5/ha) optimum dose of phosphorus the responses were 282.65 and 280.84 q/ha green fodder, respectively. At mean physical (30.20 kg ZnSO4/ha) and economic (28.06 kg ZnSO4/ha) optimum dose of ZnSO4 the responses were 272.01 and 264.55 q/ha green fodder, respectively.

Economics analysis of phosphorus and zinc nutrition in fodder&nbsp;cowpea (Vigna unguiculata)

Background: Fodder cowpea is an important leguminous, short duration, warm season crop widely cultivated. Though India ranks first in livestock population, the productivity is found lesser than the world average due to deficiency in availability of green fodders. As fresh water application usage is increasing for the cultivation of field crops and high value crops, fodder crops are found negligible crops but responds well to water and nutrients. Leaf area index is one of the determinative parameters for the increased yield, an attempt was made to determine the relationship between the growth and yield of fodder cowpea with the application of domestic sewage water and nutrients.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 
Methods: studies were conducted during 2019 and 2020 to study the relationship between different sources of irrigation water and nutrients on the growth and yield of fodder cowpea. Treatments in main plot consists of irrigation with water using well water (I1), domestic sewage water (I2) and well water and domestic sewage water alternatively (I3). Treatments in sub plot consists of no nutrient (N1), Farm Yard manure alone (N2), Farm Yard manure + NPK (N3) and NPK alone (N4), in split plot design and replicated thrice. The leaf constant was determined graphically plotted in regression and used for calculation of leaf area. The relationship between leaf area index and the growth and yield parameters of fodder cowpea were determined.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Our investigation concluded that the application of domestic sewage water along with farmyard manure + NPK significantly increased plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf length, leaf width, leaf area and leaf area index of fodder cowpea. The data also reveals that leaf area index correlated positively with plant height, number of leaves per plant, biomass per plant and yield of fodder cowpea.

Assessment of Leaf Area Index and its Relationship with Growth and Yield of Fodder Cowpea as Influenced by Sources of Irrigation and Nutrients

Background: Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] is a leguminous crop cultivated for pulse, feed and fodder in tropical and sub-tropical regions worldwide. Although the cowpea is adapted to most of the regions in India, the crop is threatened by diseases like root rot, cowpea yellow mosaic virus, leaf spot and anthracnose and pests such as aphids and defoliators. 
&nbsp; 
Methods: In this study, green fodder yield losses due to diseases and pests were quantified in fodder cowpea at five locations for three cropping seasons 2019-2021. There were two treatments one was protected with fungicides/biocontrol agents/biopesticides and another was unprotected. The incidence of diseases and pests was recorded in both treatments. 
&nbsp; 
Result: The mean root rot incidence was 1.39 to 50.24 per cent at three locations, the severity of cowpea yellow mosaic virus ranged between 0.69 to 14.49% and the disease severity of foliar diseases was 0.75 to 40.40 per cent. Whereas aphid population was in the range of 3.93 to 30.26 aphids per twig and infestation on cowpea by defoliators was observed in the range of 1.31 to 45.64 per cent. The average green fodder yield losses were ranged between 11.06 to 46.21 percent with highest losses were recorded at Palampur location and lowest were estimated at Ludhiana location. The crop loss models were also prepared for disease and pest damage to assess the relationship between disease severity, pest infestation and green fodder yield of cowpea. The correlation was found negative/positive and highly significant at p=0.01 and p=0.05 between disease severity, pest damage values and green fodder yield losses at all five test locations. Regarding the management of diseases and pests, the focus should be on the timely application of management measures. &nbsp; 
&nbsp;

Quantification of Green Fodder Yield Losses Due to Diseases and Insect-pests Infecting Cowpea in North-Eastern and North-Western Regions of India

<div>An experiment was conducted to evaluate the varying organic and inorganic nutrient sources on fodder cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] in the kharif of 2017 at ICAR- NDRI, Karnal. The result revealed that application of 100% RDF (N,P,K) along with biofertilizers (rhizobium, PSB, potassium and zinc solubilizer bacteria) (T6) gave significantly (P&lt;0.05) higher in plant height (204.6 cm), primary branches (6.1), root length (24.47 cm), green matter yield (334.5 q ha-1), CGR (8.13 g m-2 day-1), RGR (4.68 g g-1 day-1), K content (1.45%) in plant, P uptake (23.01 kg ha-1) and K uptake (86.04 kg ha-1) and available Zn status (0.465 ppm) in soil, after harvesting of the crop. However, N content (2.93%) in plant, N uptake (172.51 kg ha-1) and Zn uptake (192.03 g ha-1) was maximum with the application of 66.67% RDF along with biofertilizers consortium (T7). Application of 100% RDF along with PSB (T3) recorded highest number of nodule (33), P content in plant (0.389%) and available P status (24.76 g ha-1) in soil, after harvest. Further studies that, available N status (208.03 kg h-1), K status (221.27 kg ha-1) in soil, after harvest and Zn content (33.31 ppm) in plant were significantly higher with these treatments like T8 -15 N, 60 P2O5, 40 K2O kg ha-1 along with rhizobium, T4 -100% RDF along with K solubilizer and T11 -FYM 5 t ha -1 with biofertilizers, respectively. In context of the economics of fodder cowpea production, highest gross return (Rs. 53525 ha-1) was obtained from T6 while maximum net return (Rs. 31351 ha-1) and benefit-cost ratio (1.45) were worked out maximum with the treatment T7.</div>

Effect of Organic and Inorganic Nutrient Sources on Growth, Yield, Nutrient Uptake and Economics of Fodder Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.]

Background: A recent occurrence of fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (JE Smith) a new invasive pest in Africa attained epidemic form in 2016.&nbsp; Consequently, researchers probed various ecofriendly methods to manage the pest. The effect of intercropping cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] with fodder maize (Zea mays L.) on the incidence of FAW was investigated.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The maize fodder was protected against FAW by intercropping with cowpea along with a biorational product, Brahamastra and compared with the recommended&nbsp; insecticide used to manage the insect by conducting field experiments during kharif 2020, 2021 and 2022 comprising the eight treatments viz. T1: Maize + Cowpea 1:1 ratio (unsprayed); T2: Maize + Cowpea 1:1 ratio (coragen @ 100 ml ha-1); T3: Maize + Cowpea 1:1 ratio (brahamastra @ 12.5 litre ha-1 sprayed); T4: Maize sole (brahamastra @ 7.5 litre ha-1 sprayed); T5: Maize sole (brahamastra @ 10.0 litre ha-1 sprayed); T6: Maize sole (Brahamastra @ 12.5 litre ha-1 sprayed); T7: Maize sole (coragen 18.5 SC @ 100 ml ha-1 sprayed as standard check) and T8: Maize sole (Unsprayed). The plot size for each treatment was 500 m2, demarcating 5 x 4 m2 for sampling with three replications in a completely randomized design (CRBD). 
 
Result: The treatments, Maize + Cowpea (1:1 row) (Coragen @ 100 ml ha-1 sprayed) and Maize sole (Coragen @ 100 ml ha-1 sprayed) though had significantly the&nbsp; lowest pooled pest incidence and the highest per cent reduction over control (PROC), the bio-rational applied on maize + Cowpea (1:1 row) (brahamastra @ 12.5 litre ha-1 sprayed) encounted the&nbsp; lowest pest incidence, the highest PROC combined with the highest fodder yield and economic returns without any statistical singnificant difference with&nbsp; Maize + Cowpea (1:1 row) (unsprayed).

Effect of phosphorus and zinc nutrition on growth and yield of fodder cowpea

Productivity and Profitability of Fodder Cowpea Cultivars under Various Zinc Management Practices in IGP of India

Effect of Sowing Window and Phosphorus Levels on Growth and Yield of Summer Fodder Cowpea

Effect of Rhizobium Inoculation and Tillage Practices on Fodder Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata)

Phosphorus and zinc fertilization in fodder cowpea - A review

Economics analysis of phosphorus and zinc nutrition in fodder cowpea (Vigna unguiculata)

Assessment of Leaf Area Index and its Relationship with Growth and Yield of Fodder Cowpea as Influenced by Sources of Irrigation and Nutrients

Quantification of Green Fodder Yield Losses Due to Diseases and Insect-pests Infecting Cowpea in North-Eastern and North-Western Regions of India

Effect of Organic and Inorganic Nutrient Sources on Growth, Yield, Nutrient Uptake and Economics of Fodder Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.]

Impact of Cowpea-maize Intercropping and Bio-rational Product on Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (JE Smith) in Fodder Maize