Effect of Sewage Water Application and Nutrients on the Yield and Nutrient Uptake of Fodder Cowpea

Abstract

A pot culture experiment was conducted at the Department of Agronomy, Madras Veterinary College, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai, to study the effect of irrigation water and nutrients on the yield and nutrient uptake of fodder cowpea. The experiment consisted of two factors with irrigation water and nutrients with three and four treatments respectively. The results of the experiment indicated that the application of sewage water along with recommended dose of farm yard manure and inorganic nutrients enhanced the growth attributes and yield of fodder cowpea. The leaf stem ratio was found higher with the application of sewage water and the application of farm yard manure and inorganic nutrients. The increase in yield of cowpea with higher nutrient content resulted in increased nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium uptake by fodder cowpea. The post harvest samples have shown that application of sewage water and nutrients to the soil had positively resulted in the uptake of nutrients by fodder cowpea. Application of sewage water along with the recommended dose of nutrients resulted in 22.3 percentage of yield compared to application of irrigation water and without nutrient application.