Vol. 4, Issue 1, Part A (2022)

Field experimentation was conducted during Rabi season of 2021 at Central Farm, College of Agriculture, Central Agricultural University, Imphal, India to evaluate the “Effect of foliar application of potassium nitrate on growth, yield and economics of Garden pea (Pisum sativum L)”. Experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block design (FRBD) with three replications consisting of different times of foliar application (A₁: Flower initiation stage, A₂: Pod development stage and A3: both stages) and four different levels of KNO₃ foliar application (F₁:0.5 % KNO3, F₂:1 % KNO3, F₃:1.5 % KNO3 and F4:2 % KNO₃) and one control with a total 13 treatments. The results of the study revealed that, among the various treatment combinations, the treatment (A3F4) foliar spray of 2% KNO3 at both flower initiation and pod development stage recorded significantly highest yield components like number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, green pod yield, seed yield and Stover yield but non-significant in pod length and harvest index. It was followed by 1.5 % KNO3 application at both flower initiation and pod development stage. The assessment of the energy requirement of foliar application of potassium nitrate, the results revealed that the total input energy utilization was highest in 2 % KNO3 application at both flower initiation and pod development stage (A3F4) followed by 1.5 % KNO₃ at both flower initiation and pod development stage (A₃F₃). Maximum output energy (75.726 GJ/ha), net energy output (68.839 GJ/ha), energy productivity (0.3885 kg/MJ) and minimum specific energy (2.57 MJ/kg) were found in same treatment (A3F4). But in case of energy use efficiency (11.328 %) was found highest in 2 % KNO3 application at flower initiation stage (A₁F₄).