5842 in Biosciences 10(27), Print : ISSN 0974-8431,
Trends Trends5842-5847,
in Biosciences
201710 (27), 2017
Studies on Foliar Nutrition in Black Gram [Vigna mungo L.] Under Rainfed
Condition
S. M. JADHAV, V. G. TAKANKHAR AND C. S. KUMBHAR
Department of Soil Science and Agriculture Chemistry, College of Agriculture, Latur
Vasantrao Naik Marathawada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani, Maharashtra
email : shantanujadhav00@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Aim of research work is to study the effect of foliar
nutrition on growth, yield, and quality of black gram (Vigna
mungo L.). The field experiment was conducted in College
of Agriculture, Latur farm during the kharif season 2016-
2017 with black gram variety TAU-1 as test crop. The
result reveled that foliar nutrition along with RDF had
significant effect on seed and straw yield, nutrient uptake
and protein in black gram. Application of 19:19:19 @ 1.0%
at vegetative stage, 00:52:34 @ 1.0% at flowering stage
and 13:00:45 @1.0% at grain filling stage along with
RDF recorded significantly higher seed and straw yield
and quality parameters of black gram. The application of
19:19:19 @ 1.0% at vegetative stage, 00:52:34 @ 1.0%
at flowering stage and 13:00:45 @1.0% at grain filling
stage along with RDF recorded highest seed and straw
yield (1469.00 and 2236.00 kg ha-1 ) respectively and
quality characters viz., Test weight (55.90 g), protein
content (24.03 %), and protein yield (353.05 kg ha-1) over
control.
Key words Black gram, Uptake, Yield and Quality.
Black gram [Vigna mungo (L.)] is popularly known as
‘urad bean’. It is one of the important pulse crop grown in
India which belongs to family leguminoseae and genus
Vigna. Black gram is reported as originated in India. Black
gram cultivated since ancient times and is one of the most
highly prized pulse crop in India. It has been introduced to
other tropical areas mainly by Indian immigrants. Black gram
is one of the most highly prized pulse crop, cultivated in
almost all parts of India. It has inevitably marked itself as
the most popular pulse and can be most appropriately
referred to as the “king of the pulses” due to its mouth
watering taste and numerous other nutritional qualities.
Black gram is perfect combination of all nutrients, which
includes protein (25-26 %), carbohydrate (60 %), fat (1.5
%), minerals, amino acids and vitamins. It stands next to
soybean in its dietary protein content. It is rich in vitamin
A, B1, B3 and has small amount of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin
and vitamin C in it. It contains 78 % to 80 % nitrogen in the
form of albumin and globulin. The dry seeds are good source
of phosphorus. It also has very high calorie content. 100
gm of black gram has 347 calories. Therefore, black gram is
the cheapest available source of protein for the poor and
vegetarians. Foliar application of nutrients is best than soil
application because less quantity of fertilizer is required
for the foliar application as compare to soil application.
The prices of fertilizers are increasing day by day and
therefore, it is necessary to reduce the cost of fertilizers by
using foliar application of fertilizer to increase yield of
legume crops. During last three years, it was observed that
in Maharashtra there was continuous dry spell of 15 to 35
days during kharif season. Which severely affect the growth
and yield of kharif crops. It is evident from the literature
that the foliar nutrition with N, P and K help in increasing
drought resistance in plant and reduces the loss of water
through evapotranspiration. Foliar feeding is a technique
of a feeding nutrient to plant by applying liquid fertilizer
(either in solution or suspension) directly to the crop
canopy. If used wisely, it can more efficient, economical,
environmental friendly, target oriented when used
supplement soil fertilization now days, foliar feeding is
widely adopted strategy in modern crop management where
it is used to ensure higher or optimum crop performance by
enhancing crop growth at certain growth stage, correcting
the nutrient deficiency in crop and enhancing crop tolerance
to adverse condition for crop growth. Foliar application
overcome soil fertilization limitations soil unsuitable for
fertilizer precipitation, antagonism between certain
nutrients, heterogenic soil unsuitable for low dosages and
fixation, absorption reaction like in the case of potassium.
Therefore attempts were made to know the effect of foliar
nutrition on growth and yield of black gram. Accordingly
the field experiments on “Studies on foliar nutrition in black
gram [Vigna mungo (L.)] under rainfed condition.” was
conducted.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The field experiment was conducted in College of
Agriculture, Latur farm during the kharif season 2016-2017.
This experiment was laid out in randomized block design
with 3 replication and 8 treatments. The experimental soil
was clayey in texture, slightly alkaline reaction, low in
content of available nitrogen, medium in available
phosphorous and high in available potassium. The
experiment consist of 8 treatments viz., T1 - Control, T2 -
RDF + Water Spray, T3 - RDF + 19:19:19 @ 1.0 % at
vegetative stage, T4 - RDF + 00:52:34 @ 1.0 % at flowering
stage, T5 - RDF + 13:00:45 @ 1.0 % at grain filling stage, T6
- RDF + 19:19:19 @ 1.0 % at vegetative stage + 00:52:34 @
1.0 % at flowering stage, T7 - RDF + 00:52:34 @ 1.0 % at
flowering stage + 13:00:45 @ 1.0 % at grain filling stage and
T8 - RDF + 19:19:19 @ 1.0 % at vegetative stage + 00:52:34
@ 1.0 % at flowering stage + 13:00:45 @ 1.0 % at grain
filling stage. Recommended dose of fertilizer (25:50:00 kg
ha -1 ) viz., nitrogen and phosphorus were applied in
respective plots as per the recommendation by using the
urea and SSP. Grain yield at the time of harvesting and
quality parameters like test weight, protein content and
protein yield were analyzed at the harvesting stage of black
gram per plot. Data recorded on yield and quality parameter
was subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA, p d” 0.05)
 JADHAV et al., Studies on Foliar Nutrition in Black Gram [Vigna mungo L.] Under Rainfed Condition 5843

Table 1. Effect of foliar nutrition on uptake (kg ha-1) of N by black gram.

Treatments N uptake (kg ha-1)

30 DAS 45 DAS 60 DAS At Harvest Grain

T1: Control 5.55 13.57 17.81 15.10 32.93
T2: RDF + Water spray 6.27 14.44 18.91 17.68 39.99
T3: RDF + 19:19:19@1.0% at vegetative stage 7.14 19.33 22.90 20.96 44.46
T4: RDF + 00:52:34@1.0% at flowering stage 6.80 17.96 21.46 20.01 42.19
T5: RDF + 13:00:45@1.0% at grain filling stage 6.51 15.39 19.54 18.95 40.51
T6: T3 + T4 7.94 21.56 24.90 23.01 51.08
T7: T4 + T5 7.24 19.95 23.57 21.68 51.04
T8: T3 + T4 + T5 9.33 23.99 28.61 24.33 56.46
S.Em± 0.30 0.62 0.71 0.41 0.99
CD at 5% 0.91 1.87 2.15 1.24 2.99

and means comparisons were done at Pd” 0.05. Percentages
were computed using the least square means from
respective ANOVA and tables and figures were drawn using
MS excel 2007 program.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Uptake of N, P and K were recorded at each growth
stage of black gram during the course of field experiment
and the results obtained.
Uptake of Nitrogen
Effect of foliar nutrition on uptake of N presented in
table 1. The N uptake in black gram crop was significantly
influenced by different foliar nutrition treatments at all the
growth stages. Significantly higher N uptake was observed
with treatment T8 (RDF + 19:19:19 @ 1.0 % at vegetative
stage + 00:52:34 @ 1.0 % at flowering stage + 13:00:45 @ 1.0
% at grain filling stage) at 30 DAS (9.33 kg ha-1), 45 DAS
(23.99 kg ha-1), 60 DAS (28.61 kg ha-1) and at harvest (24.33
kg ha-1) followed by treatment T6. The treatment T1 (Control)
was significantly inferior than, the rest treatment. In the
treatment T1 (Control) minimum uptake at 30 DAS (5.55 kg
ha-1), 45 DAS (13.57 kg ha-1), 60 DAS (17.81 kg ha-1) and at
harvest (15.10 kg ha-1) followed by the treatment T2 (RDF +
Water spray). Also, significantly higher uptake of N by
grain was observed due to treatment T8 (56.46 kg ha-1) over
rest of the treatments and followed by treatments T6 (51.08
kg ha-1) and T7 (51.04 kg ha-1) which were at par with each
other. Whereas, the treatment T1 (Control) in grain recorded
significantly lowest uptake of N (32.93 kg ha-1) followed by
treatment T2 (39.99 kg ha-1). This increasing N uptake might
be due to increased availability of nitrogen to the crop and
higher biomass production with increased photosynthesis.
Similar findings were reported by Shashikumar et al., (2013),
their investigation showed that significantly higher nitrogen
uptake (88.32 kg ha-1) was recorded in treatment, RDF +
foliar spray of 40 ppm NAA + 0.5 % chelated micronutrient
+ 2 % DAP over rest of the treatments.
Uptake of Phosphorous
Effect of foliar nutrition on uptake of phosphorous
presented in table 2. The P uptake in black gram crop was
increased with advanced age of crop and it was significantly
influenced by different foliar nutrition at all the growth
stages. Significantly higher P uptake was observed with
treatment T8 (RDF + 19:19:19 @ 1.0 % at vegetative stage +
00:52:34 @ 1.0 % at flowering stage + 13:00:45 @ 1.0 % at
grain filling stage) at 30 DAS (3.20 kg ha-1), 45 DAS (8.55 kg

Table 2. Effect of foliar nutrition on uptake (kg ha-1) of P by black gram.

P uptake (kg ha-1)
Treatments 30 DAS 45 DAS 60 DAS At Harvest Grain
T1: Control 1.87 4.46 5.01 3.99 2.22
T2: RDF + Water spray 2.13 4.81 5.53 4.91 3.00
T3: RDF + 19:19:19@1.0% at vegetative stage 2.48 6.71 6.97 6.14 3.74
T4: RDF + 00:52:34@1.0% at flowering stage 2.29 5.69 6.08 5.26 3.38
T5: RDF + 13:00:45@1.0% at grain filling stage 2.10 5.81 4.66 4.74 3.23
T6: T3 + T4 2.75 7.27 7.82 7.02 4.40
T7: T4 + T5 2.49 6.65 7.25 6.35 4.04
T8: T3 + T4 + T5 3.20 8.55 9.53 8.11 5.24
S.Em± 0.14 0.54 0.51 0.05 0.14
CD at 5% 0.41 1.65 1.55 0.16 0.42
5844 Trends in Biosciences 10 (27), 2017

Table 3. Effect of foliar nutrition on uptake (kg ha-1) of K by black gram.

Treatments K uptake (kg ha-1)
30 DAS 45 DAS 60 DAS At Harvest Grain
T1: Control 7.17 16.78 22.82 17.95 14.86
T2: RDF + Water spray 7.99 17.77 24.72 21.61 19.48
T3: RDF + 19:19:19@1.0% at vegetative stage 9.10 23.71 28.88 26.74 23.06
T4: RDF + 00:52:34@1.0% at flowering stage 8.79 21.68 26.58 25.27 21.62
T5: RDF + 13:00:45@1.0% at grain filling stage 8.26 18.66 24.87 23.35 19.46
T6: T3 + T4 9.88 27.07 32.72 30.30 26.33
T7: T4 + T5 9.12 24.94 30.40 28.03 24.80
T8: T3 + T4 + T5 11.11 30.33 37.35 32.02 31.49
S.Em± 0.37 0.67 0.67 0.63 0.48
CD at 5% 1.12 2.04 2.02 1.91 1.45

ha-1), 60 DAS (9.53 kg ha-1) and at harvest (8.11 kg ha-1). The
treatment T1 (Control) was significantly inferior than, the
rest treatment. In the treatment T1 (Control) minimum uptake
at 30 DAS (1.87 kg ha-1), 45 DAS (4.46 kg ha-1), 60 DAS (5.01
kg ha-1) and at harvest (3.99 kg ha-1). Also, Significantly
higher uptake of P in grain was observed with the treatment
T8 (5.24 kg ha-1) than the rest of treatments, followed by the
treatments T6 (4.40 kg ha -1) and T7 (4.04 kg ha -1). The
treatment T1 (Control) recorded minimum P uptake in grain
(2.22 kg ha-1) which was significantly inferior over the rest
of the treatments. The results are in conformity with those
earlier reported by Yadav and Choudhary (2011) revealed
that total phosphorus uptake in cowpea increased
significantly with 2% DAP spray as compared to water
sprayed control and 2% KCl. Similar results were also be
reported by Mudalagiriyappa et al., (2016).
Uptake of Potassium
Effect of foliar nutrition on uptake of N presented in
table 3. The K uptake was progressively increased in black
gram crop was significantly influenced by different foliar
nutrition at all the growth stage. Significantly higher P
uptake was observed with treatment T8 (RDF + 19:19:19 @
1.0 % at vegetative stage + 00:52:34 @ 1.0 % at flowering
stage + 13:00:45 @ 1.0 % at grain filling stage) at 30 (11.11
kg ha-1), 45 (30.33 kg ha-1), 60 DAS (37.35 kg ha-1) and at
harvest (32.02 kg ha-1). The uptake of K due to the treatment
T1 (Control) was significantly inferior than, the rest
treatment. The treatment T1 (Control) recorded minimum
uptake at 30 (7.17 kg ha-1), 45 (16.78 kg ha-1), 60 DAS (22.82
kg ha-1) and at harvest (17.95 kg ha-1). Also, Significantly
higher uptake of K by grain was observed due to treatment
T8 (31.49 kg ha-1) followed by treatment T6 (26.33 kg ha-1).
Minimum uptake (14.86 kg ha-1) of K in grain was observed
in case of treatment T1 (Control) which was significantly
inferior than the rest of treatments. This increase in content
and uptake of K in black gram crop might be due to foliar
application of K resulted into greater availability of K
through leaves. Similar findings were recorded by
Shashikumar et al., (2013). They reported that significantly
higher potassium uptake (35.09 kg ha-1) was recorded in
treatment T9 i.e. RDF + foliar spray of 40 ppm NAA + 0.5 %
chelated micronutrient + 2 % DAP over rest of the
treatments.
Grain and straw yield
Data on effect of foliar nutrition on seed and straw
yield in respect with (kg ha-1) are presented in Table 4. From
data it is observed that among the treatment combination
seed yield and straw yield in (kg ha -1) was found to be
maximum (1469.00 and 2236.00 kg ha-1) in treatment T8
followed by T6 (1362.00 and 2152.00 kg ha-1) and T7 (1348.00
and 2068.00 kg ha-1) and minimum (995.00 and 1695.00 kg
ha-1) in treatment T1 application respectively. The increase
in 47.64 per cent seed yield was observed in treatment T8 as
compared to T1 treatment. Foliar nutrition showed
significant response in respect with seed and straw yield of
black gram. Combination of foliar treatments gives maximum
seed and straw yield as compared to all other treatments.
Above results are in accordance with Venkatesh et al.,
(2012), reported that highest seed yield of 2437 kg ha-1 was
recorded with 2 % urea spray at 75 DAS of black gram. Also
these results were in agreement with the findings of
Ganapathy et al., (2008), Shashikumar et al., (2013) and
Vekaria et al., (2013).
Test weight, Protein content and Protein yield
Effect of foliar nutrition on test weight, protein
content and protein yield was presented in table 5. It was
evident from the results that, the test weight of seed was
not affected significantly by different foliar treatments in
black gram. Among the treatments the highest test weight
(55.70 g) was observed with the treatment T8. While the
lowest test weight (54.19 g) was observed with treatment
T1. These results are in accordance with Vekaria et al., (2013)
foliar application of potassium nitrate @ 0.4% and 0.8%
significantly improved 100 grain weight by 6.40 per cent
and 4.30 per cent in comparison of water spray only in
green gram. Also, it was evident from the results that, the
protein content in seed and protein yield were significantly
affected due to foliar nutrition. Significantly higher protein
content (24.03 %) was observed with the treatment T8
followed by the treatments T7 (23.69 %) and T6 (23.45 %).
Among all the treatments the lower protein content (20.71
 JADHAV et al., Studies on Foliar Nutrition in Black Gram [Vigna mungo L.] Under Rainfed Condition 5845

Table 4. Effect of foliar nutrition on grain, straw and biological yield.

Grain Increase Straw Increase Biological

Treatments Yield over control Yield over control Yield
(%) (%)
(kg ha-1) (kg ha-1) (kg ha-1)
T1: Control 995 -- 1695 -- 2690
T2: RDF + Water spray 1183 18.89 1885 11.21 3068
T3: RDF+19:19:19@1.0% at vegetative 1305
stage 31.16 2039 20.29 3344
T4: RDF +00:52:34@1.0% 1252
at flowering stage 25.83 1993 17.58 3245
T5: RDF +13:00:45@1.0% at grain filling 1213
stage 21.91 1958 15.52 3171
T6: T3 + T4 1362 36.88 2152 26.96 3514
T7: T4 + T5 1348 35.48 2068 22.01 3416
T8: T3 + T4 + T5 1469 47.64 2236 31.92 3705
S.Em± 29.12 -- 27.82 -- 25.88
CD at 5% 88.33 -- 84.37 -- 78.49

Table 5. Effect of foliar nutrition on quality attributes of black gram.

Treatments 1000 seed weight Protein content Protein yield
(g) ( %) (kg ha-1)
T1: Control 54.19 20.71 206.06
T2: RDF + Water spray 55.04 21.12 249.81
T3: RDF + 19:19:19@1.0% at vegetative stage 54.54 21.28 277.75
T4: RDF + 00:52:34@1.0% at flowering stage 54.37 21.06 263.67
T5: RDF + 13:00:45@1.0% at grain filling stage 54.46 20.89 253.36
T6: T3 + T4 55.10 23.45 319.39
T7: T4 + T5 54.58 23.69 319.38
T8: T3 + T4 + T5 55.90 24.03 353.05
S.Em± 0.55 0.22 3.06
CD at 5% NS 0.68 9.30

Fig. 1. Effect of foliar nutrition on uptake (kg ha-1) of N by black gram.

5846 Trends in Biosciences 10 (27), 2017

Fig. 2. Effect of foliar nutrition on uptake (kg ha-1) of P by black gram.

Fig. 3. Effect of foliar nutrition on uptake (kg ha-1) of K by black gram.

Fig. 4. Effect of foliar nutrition on grain and straw yield (kg ha-1) of black gram.
 JADHAV et al., Studies on Foliar Nutrition in Black Gram [Vigna mungo L.] Under Rainfed Condition
%) in seed was observed with treatment T1. Similarly, the
higher protein yield (353.05 kg ha -1) was recorded with
treatment T8 which was significantly superior over the rest
of treatments. It was followed by T6 (319.39 kg ha -1).
Treatment T7 and T6 were at par with each other. The
significantly lower protein yield (206.06 kg ha -1) was
observed with treatment T1 than the rest of the treatments
followed by T2 (249.81 kg ha -1). The results were in
accordance with Doss et al., (2013) revealed that
significantly highest protein content (22.7 %) was obtained
with 2 % DAP + 1 % K + 200 ppm NAA in black gram
CONCLUSION
The uptake of N, P and K by straw and grain were
found to be maximum with application of 1 per cent 19:19:19,
00:52:34 and 13:00:45 each at vegetative, flowering and grain
filling stage, respectively along with RDF (T8) over Control
(T1). Application of RDF + 19:19:19 @ 1.0% at vegetative
stage, RDF + 00:52:34 @ 1.0% at flowering stage and RDF +
13:00:45 @1.0% at grain filling stage was found to be
superior for increase in grain and straw yield of black gram.
Also improve the quality of black gram seed in terms of test
weight, protein content and protein yield. Among the
treatments, application of 19:19:19, 00:52:34 and 13:00:45
combination along with RDF showed superiority over all
the treatments in all the respect which might be due to fact
that there was positive and significant response among
5847
these three foliar nutrient combination as compared to
individual or combined application of two nutrients along
with RDF.
LITERATURE CITED
Doss, A., Anand, S. P. and Keerintha, M. 2013. Effect of foliar
nutrition of diammonium phosphate, potash and NAA on
growth, yield and biochemical constituents of Vigna mungo. J.
Agric. Res., 2 (7) : 206-208.
Ganapathy, M., Baradhan, G. and Ramesh, N. 2008. Effect of foliar
nutrition on reproductive efficiency and grain yield of rice fallow
pulses. Leg. Res.,31 (2) : 142-144.
Mudalagiriyappa, Ali, S., Ramachandrappa B. K., Basavaraja, P. K.
And Kiran 2016. Effect of foliar application of water soluble
fertilizers on nutrient uptake and reproductive efficiency of
chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) The Bioscan, 11 (3) :
1601-1604.
Shashikumar, Basavrajappa, R., Hebber M., Patil, H. Y. 2013.
Influence of foliar application on performance of black gram
(Vigna mungo L.). Leg. Res., 36 (5) : 422-428.
Vekaria, G. B. 2013. Effect of foliar nutrition of potassium nitrate
on growth and yield on greengram. Legume Res. 36 (2) : 162-
164.
Yadav, L. R. and Choudhary, G. L. 2012. Effect of fertility levels and
foliar nutrition on profitability, nutrient content and uptake of
cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp] (L.) Walp] Legume Res.,
35 (3) : 258 – 260.
Received on 17-07-2017 Accepted on 19-07-2017