Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

YIELD ENHANCEMENT OF GARDEN PEA (PISUM SATIVUM L.) THROUGH ON FARM TRAILS

Nishith Gupta, R.P. Sharma and K.S. Bhargav

Abstract

Garden pea (Pisum sativum L.) is one of the most important vegetable crops grown during winter season all over the world as well as in India. It is popular for its green pods which are very nutritive containing high percentage of digestible protein along with carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. Despite the fact that Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh is having a great potential of pea production due to favourable soil and agro-climatic condition, majority of the farmers of this region are still growing local material which are of poor yielding potential and quality. Therefore, for creating awareness among the farmers, efforts have been made by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Dewas to popularize the high yielding variety of pea in the district. In this context, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Dewas conducted demonstration trials to assess the improved varieties of pea viz. Pant Sabzi Matar-3 (PSM-3) and Arkel along with existing varieties used by the farmers as local check in the district for six consecutive years (2008-09 to 2013-14). Result indicated that PSM-3 variety performed extremely well in the farmer’s field with respect to yield potential and monetary returns. PSM-3 variety recorded higher yield of 66.69 q/ha followed by Arkel (52.49 q/ha). The percentage increase in the yield over respective local check was 22.94 and 14.98 percent for PSM-3 and Arkel respectively. The technology gap shows the gap in the demonstration yield over potential yield and it was highest in PSM-3 (23.31 q/ha) as compared to Arkel (22.67 q/ha). The economic analysis of the data over the years revealed that PSM-3 variety recorded higher gross return (Rs 66786/ha), net return (Rs. 52376/ha) and B:C ratio (4.68) as compared to Arkel and local check.