Vol. 11, Issue 3 (2022)

Author(s):
S Mobeena, C Nagamani, G Prabhakara Reddy and V Umamahesh

Abstract:
The present study was undertaken during summer, 2019 on sandy loam soils of dryland farm, S. V. Agricultural College, Tirupati. The main objective of the study was to assess the optimum sowing window and graded levels of phosphorus for achieving higher yield and nutrient uptake of fodder cowpea. The experiment was conducted in a split plot design with three sowing windows viz., I FN of January, II FN of January and I FN of February allocated to main plots and four levels of phosphorus viz., 0, 20, 40 and 60 kg P₂O₅ ha^-1 allotted to subplots. From the results, it was found that leaf to stem ratio, green fodder yield and uptake of nutrients were higher with earlier sown crop i.e. I FN of January. Higher post-harvest soil available nutrients were with the crop sown during I FN of February. Application of 60 kg P₂O₅ ha^-1 resulted in significant increase in yield, yield attributes, post-harvest soil nutrient status and uptake of nutrients. The interaction between sowing window and phosphorus levels in determining all the above parameters were found to be non-significant. In conclusion, the current study found that fodder cowpea produces optimum green fodder yield with high uptake of nutrients when sown during I FN of January with 60 kg P₂O₅ ha^-1.