Assessing Crop and Water Productivity Performance of Different Crops and Cropping Systems

Background: Freshwater in sufficient quantity and adequate quality is a prerequisite for human societies and natural ecosystems. To adequately feed 9.3 billion people in 2050, consumptive water use (i.e. transpired water) by all food and fodder crops needs to increase from its present estimated level of 7000 km3/year to 12,586 km3/year. However, fresh water resources are increasingly getting scarce because of increased competition among a multitude of users. Getting agriculture to perform with progressively smaller allocation of renewable water resources will remain a challenge on global scale. To meet the challenge there is an urgent need to improve the crop water productivity to ensure the sustainability of agriculture. Methods: An experiment was carried out at village Menawali, Hanumangarh, Rajasthan during both kharif and rabi seasons to assess productivity, economics, N-uptake and water use of different crops. An area of 187 ha comprising 25 farmers irrigated by common irrigation channels were selected to collect the information. The information required i.e. soil, crop management, growth, phonological, yields, water balance, N-uptake and water use efficiency of each crops were collected from 15 farmers. Bt-cotton and clusterbean of kharif and wheat and Indian mustard in rabi were prominent crops, cotton-wheat, cotton-mustard, clusterbean-wheat and clusterbean-mustard were major cropping sequences of the study region. Result: In kharif season, Bt-cotton gave higher economic yields than clusterbean and amongst rabi season crops, economic yields of wheat and mustard were 4255, 1778 kg/ha, respectively. The economic yield of cropping sequences varied from 3741-6514 kg/ha and were higher for cotton-wheat (6218 kg/ha), intermediate for clusterbean-wheat (5785 kg/ha) and lower for cotton-mustard (3741 kg/ha) and clusterbean-mustard (3308 kg/ha). The cotton-wheat (₹1181.2 mm) sequence had highest water use. Clusterbean-wheat cropping system recorded highest water productivity (16.5 kg/ha mm) followed by clusterbean-mustard (14.9 kg/ha mm). The clusterbean-mustard (₹456/ha mm) cropping sequence was most profitable and fetched highest net return followed by clusterbean-wheat (₹383/ha mm).

Genetic study of terminal heat stress in indigenous collections of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.) germplasm

Aim: The present study was carried out to evaluate 145 genotypes of Indian mustard for terminal heat stress under late sown irrigated conditions. Methodology: One hundred and forty five genotypes of Indian mustard were evaluated for terminal heat tolerance, along with six checks in augmented block design. The effect of heat stress was assessed on different agro-morphological traits. Data were recorded on five randomly selected plants for 12 different quantitative traits for each genotype. Results: Terminal heat stress caused significant reduction in performance of all traits, except oil content and fruiting zone length. Seed yield per plant showed highest reduction (33.92%) followed by 1000-seed weight (21.28%). Thousand-seed weight and secondary branches per plant were found associated with seed yield under late sown conditions. Based on yield under stress, yield index, geometric mean productivity and stress tolerance indices, five lines viz., DRMR-59, DRMR-2094, DRMR-2129, DRMR-2071, DRMR-2136 were identified as high yielding and terminal heat stress tolerant. Whereas, based on heat stress susceptibility index, DRMR-1347, DRMR-1154, DRMR-1190 were top performing lines tolerant to terminal heat stress. Interpretation: Selection of high yielding lines under stress condition can be done using correlated traits. Yield under stress was found significantly correlated with YSI, YI, MP, STI and GMP suggesting to use these indices for selection of high yielding and heat tolerant lines. However, further re-validation is very much needed for effective use of these indices for selection of heat tolerant lines in Indian mustard.

Effect of EDTA chelate, cow manure, elemental sulfur application and Thiobacillus inoculant on Cd, Zn and Fe phytoremediation efficiency in a Cd-polluted soil

Background and Purpose: Phytoremediation efficiency of heavy metals is one of the important points in environmental studies. This research was conducted to investigate the effect of cow manure, elemental sulfur and EDTA on Cd uptake by Indian mustard in a Cd-polluted soil in the presence of Thiobacillus thiooxidans. Materials and Methods: Treatments consisted of applying cow manure (0, 5 and 10 g/kg soil), soil application of elemental sulfur (2 g/kg soil), and Cd-polluted soil (0 and 20 mg Cd/kg soil) with 1.5 mmol EDTA/kg soil in the presence of Thiobacillus spp. After 90 days, Indian mustard plant was harvested and plant Zn, Fe and Cd concentration was measured using atomic absorption spectroscopy. In addition, the soil microbial respiration was measured. Results: The use of 2 g/kg soil of elemental sulfur significantly increased the plant Cd concentration in the presence and absence of Thiobacillus by 14.2 and 11.7%, respectively. Adding cow manure to the soil at the rates of 5 and 10 g/kg soil significantly increased the plant Cd concentration by 15.7 and 18.1%, respectively. Also, the application of EDTA chelate at the rate 0f 1.5 mmol/kg soil significantly increased the Cd concentration of the plants grown in the Cd-polluted soil (20 mg Cd/kg soil) by 13.6%. Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that using elemental sulfur in the Cdpolluted soil can increase the Cd concentration of the plant which was cultivated in the soil amended with cow manure in the presence of Thiobacillus bacteria. However, the role of soil physic-chemical properties on phytoremediation efficiency cannot be ignored.

Character Association and Path Coefficient Analysis in Indian Mustard (Brassica juncea L.)

Background: Correlation analysis informs us about the relative importance of the breeding traits and quite useful for plant breeders to formulate their breeding and selection strategies. Path coefficient analysis splits the correlation coefficient into the measures of indirect and direct effect. It identifies the indirect and direct influence of different autonomous genotype on a dependent trait. Present study aimed to determine major seed contributing components affecting seed yield and also to know the relationship among these components. Methods: Present investigation was carried out on 147 advanced breeding lines to know the correlations and path coefficient for 12 yield and yield contributing traits. The material was evaluated in augmented block design with 07 blocks, each block having 21 lines. A set of three check varieties were repeated in each block. Observations were recorded on number of primary branches/plant, number of secondary branches/plant, plant height (cm), silique/plant, fruiting zone length (cm), main shoot length (cm), number of seeds/siliquae, siliquae length (cm), biological yield/plant (g), seed yield/plant (g), harvest index and test weight. Result: The seed yield per plant showed positive and significant correlation with primary branches per plant (0.273), secondary branches per plant (0.280), siliquae per plant (0.627), biological yield per plant (0.744), harvest index (0.188), test weight (0.212) and oil content (0.225). Biological yield per plant (0.5747) had maximum direct effect on seed yield per plant followed by siliquae per plant (0.2438), harvest index (0.127), oil content (0.118) and test weight. These characters have positive and significant association with seed yield per plant. The study thus indicated that biological yield per plant, siliquae per plant, harvest index and test weight are the important characters which should be considered in selection programme in Indian mustard.

Phytoremediation of EMS Induced Brassica juncea Heavy Metal Hyperaccumulator Genotypes

Buriganga, an economically important river of Dhaka, Bangladesh, is highly polluted by different toxic heavy metals. In this study, phytoremediation of EMS induced Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L) genotypes against three pollutants viz. lead (Pb), chromium (Cr) and cadmium (Cd) of Buriganga riverbank soil was assessed in field condition. Among 1-, 2- and 3% EMS induced genotypes, better seed germination rate, germination speed and plant survival rate were observed in 1% EMS induced genotype, BE21. The highest concentration of Pb, Cr and Cd were also obtained in the leaf of BE21 genotype and therefore was considered as a super-hyperaccumulator genotype. Concentration of Pb in the next generation of this genotype was approximately two-fold higher in the root (91.53 mg/kg dry weight, DW); three-fold higher in the shoot (33.31 mg/kg DW) and leaf (28.35 mg/kg DW), and more in the fruit (5.59 mg/kg DW) than the control. Concentration of Cr was approximately two-fold in the root (57.02 mg/kg DW), shoot (18.51 mg/kg DW) and leaf (14.98 mg/kg DW), and more in the fruit (6.15 mg/kg DW) of BE21 genotype compared to the control. Cd concentration was more in the root (1.96 mg/kg DW), leaf (0.52 mg/kg DW) and fruit (0.19 mg/kg DW) and less in the shoot (0.19 mg/kg DW) of BE21 genotype than the control. Root, shoot, leaf and fruit of BE21 altogether accumulated 98-, 73- and 87% Pb, Cr and Cd, respectively and can thus be utilized to remove heavy metals of Buriganga River. As like root, shoot and leaf, fruit also accumulated heavy metals; hence those plants which are used in phytoremediation should not be used as food or fodder. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of developing EMS induced hyperaccumulator genotype of B. juncea for phytoremediation of Buriganga riverbank soil of Bangladesh.

Effect of Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) Modules on yield, yield attributes and profitability of Indian mustard [Brassica juncea (L.)] in Western Uttar Pradesh

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of integrated nutrient management (INM) modules on indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.) in Western U.P., variety Pusa Vijay at Crop Research Centre (CRC), Main Campus, Modipuram Meerut, during Rabi season, 2020-21. The soil of experimental field was sandy loam texture, alkaline in nature with pH, low in organic carbon (0.42%) and available nitrogen (181.60 kg/ha), available phosphors (16.50 kg/ha), available potassium (230.47 kg/ha) and available sulphur (7.38 kg/ha). Ten treatments of different nutrient management practices consisting T1 Control, T2 100% RDN (120 kg. N/ha), T3 75% RDN, T4 75% RDN + 25% through Vermicompost (VC), T5 75% RDN + 25% through Poultry Manure (PM), T6 75% RDN + 25% through Press Mud Compost (PMC), T7 75% RDN + 25% through [ VC , PM (1:1) ], T8 75% RDN + 25% through [VC, PMC (1:1) ], T9 75% RDN + 25% through [PM , PMC (1:1)], T10 75% RDN + 25% through [VC , PM, PMC (1:1:1)] were tested in randomized block design with three replications. The experimental results revealed that yield attributes (siliqua length, siliqua plant-1, seeds siliqua-1 and test weight), grain and stover yield (q ha-1). The increment in seed yield with application of 75% RDN + 25% through [VC, PM, PMC (1:1:1)] was 130.98 % over control. The maximum gross return and net return were recorded with the application of 75% RDN + 25% through [VC, PM, PMC (1:1:1)], however B:C ratio was lower than the use of RDF only but in application of vermicompost, press mud compost and poultry manure enhance soil fertility which improve the productivity and productivity of mustard.

Seasonal incidence and efficacy of botanical insecticides against Painted bug, Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in Indian mustard (Brassica juncea genotype RH 725)

Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister) is a serious pest of Brassica crops in the North-Western region of India, inflicting crop yield losses. Therefore, the present study was conducted on seasonal incidence and management of B. hilaris in Brassica juncea genotype RH 725 at farmer’s field, Kolana village, Aravalli Hills Region, Rewari, Haryana, India during Rabi, 2019-20 and 2020-21. This study laid out the trial in a randomized block design with three replications and six treatments viz., Neem Seed Kernel Extract (NSKE) @ 7%, Nimbecidine @ 0.03%, Neem oil @ 5%, NSKE @ 5%, Neem oil @ 7% and control (unsprayed). Observations on the incidence of B. hilaris showed that it appeared from 5th Standard Meteorological Week (SMW) (0.34 bugs plant-1) and attained peak during 10th SMW with 5.77 bugs plant-1. The incidence of B. hilaris exhibited significant positive correlation with maximum (r=0.852, p<0.05) and minimum (r=0.900, p<0.05) temperature, rainfall (r=0.763, p<0.05) and wind velocity (r=0.959, p<0.05). Spray of Neem oil @ 7% (83.01 %) was the most effective in reducing the B. hilaris population over control followed by NSKE @ 7% (81.48 %), while NSKE @ 5% (68.85 %) confirmed least effective. Seed yield in different treatments varied from 1440.5 kg ha-1 (NSKE @ 5%) to 1590 kg ha-1 (Neem oil @ 7%) against 1216 kg ha-1 in control. The highest incremental cost-benefit ratio was registered with NSKE @ 7% (1: 7.70) followed by Nimbecidine @ 0.03% (1: 7.41) and NSKE @ 5% (1: 6.25). The present investigation signified that the study on the seasonal incidence of B. hilaris in relation to weather parameters could provide information for planning pest control and management strategies. The botanicals could be used as eco-friendly and economical substitutes for chemical insecticides at farmer’s fields against this insect pest.

Effect of Different Nutrient Management Practices on Productivity and Profitability of Double Zero Indian Mustard (Brassica juncea L.)

A field experiment was conducted at Crop Research Center, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh in Rabi season 2021 with a view to compare the production potential under different nutrient management practices and also to find out the economic viability of this cultivar for soil quality. The experiment was analysed in Randomised block design (RBD) and the treatments comprised of Control (T1), 100% N (T2), 100% NP (T3), 100% NPK (T4), 125%NPK (T5), 100% NPK+ S@40kg ha-1 (T6), 100%NPK+ Zn@5kg ha-1 (T7), 100%NPK + B@1kg ha-1 (T8), 75% NPK+ VC@ 2t ha-1 (T9), 75%NPK+FYM@ 6t ha-1 (T10), 75%NPK + VC@ 2t ha-1+ Azotobacter (T11) and 75%. NPK + FYM@6t ha-1 + Azotobacter (T12). Results revealed that treatment T11 and T12 exhibited significant influence on yield attributes and yields of mustard as compared to the application of 100% NPK alone. The maximum gross return was obtained in T12 followed by T11. The highest net return was obtained in T5 followed by T12, T6 and T11, whereas, minimum gross return and net return was obtained in T1.T11 recorded higher gross return and net return but the B:C ratio was lower due to higher cost of vermicompost. Higher values of B: C ratio (4.23) was obtained in T6 and T5 respectively. The current study reveals that T11 and T12 exhibited significant beneficial for yield, yield attributes and profitability of mustard.