Adoption of Improved Crop Management Practices for Enhancing Productivity of Pigeonpea on Farmers' Fields in Kalaburagi District of India

The present study was carried out at Agricultural Research Station and Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Gulbarga district of India, to know the yield gap between improved package and farmers’ practice under Front Line Demonstration. Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.]. Being one of the major Kharif pulse crop of Karnataka, it is having lower yield in farmer’s field due to multiple constraints. The major constraints of its lower productivity are non-adoption of improved technologies or Improved Crop Management practices. Front line demonstrations on Improved Crop Management practices were conducted at 99 framer’s fields in five adopted villages of Gulbarga district during Kharif seasons of 2010-11 to 2014-15. The Improved Crop Management practices included use of wilt resistant pigeonpea variety (WRP 1 and TS 3R), Seed treatment with Trichoderma (4 gm kg-1 seeds), use of biofertilizers (Rhizobium and PSB), Integrated nutrient management (25:50:0 NPK kg ha-1 + Zinc Sulphate @ 15 kg ha-1 + Sulphur @ 20 kg ha-1) and Integrated Pest Management. The improved technologies recorded a mean yield of 13.54 q ha-1 which was 18.69 percent higher than the yield obtained with farmers practice (11.10 q ha-1), besides having higher mean net income of Rs.22876 ha-1 with a B:C ratio of 2.68 when compared to farmers practice (Rs. 16177 ha-1 and 2.12).