Enhancement of pigeonpea productivity through adoption of drought mitigating strategiesM VNagesh KumarauthorMVenkata RamanaauthorVRamyaauthorDVishnu Vardhan ReddyauthorASrinivasauthorC VSameer KumarauthorG VRanga RaoauthorPigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh) is an important drought
tolerant legume crop in Indian rainfed agriculture. Though India
accounts for nearly 90% of the world’s pigeonpea acreage (3.73
million ha) and production (3.07 million t), the productivity is lower
at 707 kg/ha than the world average. The Morocco India Food
Legumes Initiative in collaboration with the ICRISAT is aimed at
improving the livelihood of small farmers to strengthen food and
nutritional security through adoption of improved technologies.
This paper is focused on developing and disseminating strategies
to improve pigeonpea productivity in dryland regions which are
characterized by erratic rainfall, frequent and prolonged dry spells
and soil nutrient depletion. During 2013-16, demonstrations were
conducted in 1200 farmers’ fields in Mahabubnagar district, Telangana,
India, with an objective of enhancing the productivity of
pigeonpea using three drought mitigating strategies: (i) adoption
of short-duration cultivar PRG 176, a high-yielding and early-maturing
pedigree selection of ICPL 88034 x ICPL 88039 with a duration
of 130-135 days; (ii) foliar application of soluble fertilizer to
maintain vegetative growth and ultimately improve pod filling; (iii)
life saving irrigation at the rate of 20 mm with water harvested
from farm ponds during mid season drought and prolonged dry
spells. Adoption of PRG 176 resulted in an average yield of 1400
kg/ha compared to LRG 41 (1120 kg/ha). The yield improvement
of 25% can largely be attributed to the good branching habit (8-
13 primary branches) and high flower to pod conversion ratio of
PRG 176 under dryland conditions. Foliar application of multi-K
during flowering and pod formation stages enhanced the yield
to 1360 kg/ha compared to the yield of 1100 kg/ha obtained in
fields without foliar spray. Life saving irrigation in PRG 176 during
mid season dry spell which persisted for 17-21 days improved
the yields by 20 % compared to the yield of 1200 kg/ha obtained
in rainfed crop. In conclusion, the study demonstrated that the
productivity of pigeonpea in dryland regions can be enhanced to
an average 1560 kg/ha through an integrated drought mitigating
approach by exploiting the short-duration and high-yielding potential
of PRG 176, providing life saving irrigation during critical
growth stages and foliar application of nutrients at flowering and
pod formation stages.Pigeonpea2017-02Conference or Workshop Item