Foliar Application of Tropical Trees Leaf Extract for Improve Growth and Yield of Blackgram [Vigna mungo (L). Hepper]

Abstract

Blackgram (Vigna mungo L.), the most important pulse crop is grown throughout India. The productivity of blackgram in India is relatively low compared to the world's average productivity. Nowadays for improving productivity foliar spraying of nutrients plays a major role. The available synthetic formulations for foliar spraying are polluting and highly expensive. Hence, the leaf extracts of tropical trees can be utilized as an alternative source since they have enormous bioactive compounds able to stimulate plant growth and improve productivity without any harmful effects. Therefore, the present study was conducted on a sandy loam farm of The Indian Agriculture College, Radhapuram from March 2023 to May 2023 to evaluate the effect of leaf extracts like Moringa oleifera (Moringa), Annona squamosa (Custard apple) and Nerium oleander (Nerium) at different concentration viz., 5% and 10% on cultivation of blackgram crop, variety VBN 8. The results revealed that foliar spraying of Moringa oleifera leaf extract @ 10% + RDF significantly improves the growth components like plant height (27.87 cm and 34.6 cm at 35 DAS and 50 DAS respectively), LAI (2.87 and 4.06 at 35 DAS and 50 DAS respectively), dry matter accumulation (141 g/m2 and 266 g/m2 at 35 DAS and 50 DAS respectively), Crop growth rate (5.77 and 8.33 g/m2/day at 20 to 35 DAS, 35 to 50 DAS respectively), Relative Growth Rate (0.064, 0.042 g/g/day at 20 to 35 DAS, 35 to 50 DAS respectively) and yield attribute like average number of pods per plant (36.9) and seed yield (648 kg/ha) over other treatments and it was on par with RDF + Foliar application of Custard apple leaf extract @ 10%.