Effect of Phosphorus, Molybdenum and Cobalt Nutrition on Yield and Quality of Mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) in Acidic Soil of Northeast India

Abstract

Phosphorus (P), molybdenum (Mo) and cobalt (Co) deficiencies often reduce crop productivity and quality on acidic soils, with the legumes being more susceptible. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of P, Mo and Co nutrition on crop growth, yield and quality of mungbean grown in a acidic soil (pH 4.5) of northeast India. Increasing doses of nutrients significantly increased the growth, yield attributes, yield and quality traits of mungbean. Application of 60 kg P 2 O 5 /ha resulted in maximum growth attributes and number of nodules, leading to 36.5, 19 and 7.5% higher grain yield (426 kg/ha) over control (272 kg/ha), 20 (345kg/ha) and 40 kg P 2 O 5 (394 kg/ha) treatments, respectively . Mungbean showed maximum growth and yield with application of 1.5 kg Mo/ha; the yield was 31.9 and 5.4% higher than the control (272 kg/ha) and 0.75 kg Mo/ha (378 kg/ha) treatments, respectively. The grain yield at 1.0 kg Co/ha (395 kg/ha) was 31and 3 % higher than that in control and 0.5 kg Co/ ha treatment, respectively. Protein content, protein yield and NPK uptake increased with increasing levels of P, Mo and Co application. We conclude that P, Mo and Co application can significantly improve yield and quality of mungbean in acidic soils of northeast India.