Pigeonpea is an important pulse crop and one of the major sources of protein in India. In the present study, investigations were undertaken to study the role of foliar spray of different plant growth regulators (PGRs) in altering morphology and enhancing the yield potential of pigeonpea varieties VBN 1, APK 1 and VRG 62. Among different plant growth regulators (PGRs) studied, foliar application of Giberellic acid (GA3) significantly increased plant height, number of leaves and branches in pigeonpea. This was followed by Brassinosteroid (BR). Foliar application of PGRs significantly increased both the growth attributes and yield. Various yield components viz., days to 50 per cent flowering, days to maturity, number of flowers per plant, number of pods per plant, number of clusters per plant, number of seeds per pod, hundred seed weight and harvest index were enhanced by PGR application. Maximum dry matter accumulation and fertility co-efficient was recorded in the treatment (T9), i.e., BR application @ 0.1 ppm than the other treatments. It is concluded that foliar application of BR @ 0.1ppm is advantageous in enhancing both growth and yield of Pigeonpea and thus BR foliar spray can be recommended for adoption by the farmers, to maximize the yield in Pigeonpea.

No abstract

A field trial was conducted using three varieties viz., VBN 1, APK 1 and VBN 3 to study the influence of plant growth regulators (PGRs) namely napthaleneacetic acid (NAA), Benzyl adenine (Cytokinin), gibberellic acid (GA3), ethrel, triacontanol, triiodobenzoic acid (TIBA,) mepiquat chloride (MC), salicylic acid (SA) and brassinolide (brassinosteroid (BR) in enhancing the yield potential of pigeonpea. The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design (FRBD) with three replications. PGRs have significantly enhanced the yield by influencing biochemical and physiological parameters. The variety VBN 3 outperformed the other varieties by recording highest yield. Among different PGR’s tested, BR proved its worthiness in terms of yield and its components by enhancing growth parameters and yield. It can be concluded that foliar application of BR can be used as a physiological intervention to enhance the overall photosynthetic efficiency, total dry matter production, harvest index and grain yield in pigeonpea.

An experiment was conducted during 2002 to study the morphological physiological and biochemical effects of foliar spray of nutrients and plant growth regulators on yield and productivity of blackgram. The treatments include foliar spray of 2% DAP, 0.2% Boric acid, 0.5% FeSO,, 0.5% ZnSO, 0.5% sodium molybdate, 2% urea, 0.1% humic acid, 1% KC1, Salicylic acid 100 ppm, Brassinolide 0.1 ppm and humic acid 20 kg basal application. Among these treatments, foliar spray of 2% urea recorded the highest yield of 955.2 kg/ha followed by foliar spray of KC1 1% along with soil application of humic acid 20 kg/ha (926.2 kg/ha). The yield enhancement may be due to improved morphological, physiological and biochemical parameters. The tested chemicals particularly 2% urea were found effective towards yield maximization in black gram.