Abstract

The performance of pulses under dry land conditions can be significantly improved by optimizing seed rate and adequate fertilizer management. Therefore, this study was conducted the kharif season of 2016-17 at Agronomy Farm, Department of Agronomy, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, India to find out the best possible combination of seed rates and fertilizer levels for Black gram under the dryland condition in vertisols. The treatment combinations were comprised of three levels of seed rates viz. 15 kg/ha (S1), 20 kg/ha (S2), 25 kg/ha (S3) and four levels of fertilizers dosage viz. Absolute control (F0), 20:40:20NPK kg/ha (F1), 25:50:25 NPK kg/ha (F2), 30:60:30 NPK kg/ha (F3) and was laid out in Factorial Randomized Complete Block Design. Experiment results indicated that different growth parameters of blackgram significantly improved by 15 kg/ ha of seed rate except plant height, where 25 kg/ha (S3) of seed rate recorded higher plant height. The yield attributes were higher under the seed rate of 15 kg/ha and 30:60:30 NPK kg/ha fertilizer application. In case of quality attributes, the seed rate of 25 kg/ha and 30:60:30 NPK kg/ha fertilization registered higher protein yield, although remain statistically non-significant compared to S1 treatment. Therefore, this experiment concludes that best-balanced growth, yield and quality of blackgram can be achieved with a seed rate of 15 kg/ha along with an application of NPK at the rate of 30:60:30 kg/ha.