Fodder productivity of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) varieties as influenced by phosphorus management

S. K. SHIVANAND; B. G. SHIVAKUMAR; S. L. PATIL; K. SRIDHAR; S. S. GUNDLUR

doi:10.61475/JFS.2025.v38i3.07

S. K. SHIVANAND Department of Agronomy, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad - 580 005, India
B. G. SHIVAKUMAR Department of Agronomy, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad - 580 005, India
S. L. PATIL Department of Agronomy, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad - 580 005, India
K. SRIDHAR Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad - 580 005, India
S. S. GUNDLUR Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, College of Agriculture, Dharwad - 580 005, India

DOI: https://doi.org/10.61475/JFS.2025.v38i3.07

Keywords: Cowpea varieties, Dry fodder, Economics, Green fodder, Phosphorus, PSB, VAM

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2024 at ICAR-IGFRI, SRRS, Dharwad to study the effect of phosphorus application in conjunction with biofertilizers viz., phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) and vesicular arbuscularmycorrhiza (VAM) on fodder productivity of cowpea varieties. The experiment was laid out in split-plot design with threevarieties of cowpea in main plots, five phosphorus levels in sub plots and replicated thrice. The fodder type cowpea variety‘IGFRI-DC-215’ recorded higher green fodder yield (26.62 t ha-1), dry fodder yield (2.99 t ha-1), gross returns (`88840 ha-1),net returns (`55791 ha-1) and B:C ratio (2.68). Among the phosphorus levels, application of 100% recommended rate ofphosphorus (RRP) + PSB + VAM recorded higher green fodder yield (20.80 t ha-1), dry fodder yield (2.64 t ha-1), grossreturns (`71863 ha-1), net returns (`36584 ha-1) and B:C ratio (2.05). There were no significant interaction effects amongcowpea varieties and phosphorus levels on any growth or yield parameters, yield and economics.