Enhancing Soybean Performance with Foliar Application of Thiourea: A Study on Yield, Quality and Economics

Author: Deepak Kumar Meena, Ajay Kumar, Amit Bhatnagar, R.K. Sharma, Akshay Kumar Yogi, K. Srikanth Reddy, Pragya Naithani and Tejveer Singh

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Abstract

Soybean is the second most significant source of vegetable oil in India, comprising 23 percent of total vegetable oil production after mustard. Since India is importing a significant amount of vegetable oil, soybean is crucial in addressing the shortage of edible oil in the country. In kharif 2020, a field study was carried out at N. E. Borlaug CRC, GBPUAT, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand to investigate the impact of foliar application of thiourea on soybean crop. The study involved two types of soybean varieties, PS 1347 and SL 958, and various concentrations of foliar sprays of thiourea (250, 500, and 750 ppm) in addition to water spray and control. The experiment was conducted using a factorial randomized block design with four replications. The impact of the treatments administered was assessed based on their effects on yield, quality, and economic indicators. It was recorded that PS 1347 variety was superior than SL 958 in majority of characters and recorded around 10.08 per cent higher biological yield than SL 958. Amongst the concentration of thiourea, use of foliar spray of thiourea @ 750 ppm reported maximum seed index (10.75 g), seed yield per plant (10.39 g/plant), haulm yield (5096 kg/ha) biological yield (7311 kg/ha), protein yield (901 kg/ha), oil yield (434 kg/ha), gross return (Rs. 85955/ha) and net returns (Rs. 49875/ha), which were statistically at par with the results obtained by the foliar application of 500 ppm thiourea at the same interval. However, protein and oil content showed no significant difference due to variety and foliar spray. Challenges in the study were selection of the suitable varieties for research that can represent the wider area of cultivation and other challenge is that foliar spray of thiourea was only compared with water spray and control. There is need to compare these treatments with other commonly used treatments in soybean to assess their relative effectiveness.

Keywords

Cultivars, Economics, Foliar spray, Quality, Soybean, Thiourea, Yield

Conclusion

After conducting a year-long study, it was determined that PS 1347 variety of soybean produced better seed index, yield, protein yield, oil yield, and economic returns compared to SL 958 variety. Thiourea spray at 500 ppm and 750 ppm showed the most consistent and significant response among the foliar applications tested. Both were statistically at par with each other. There was no significant interaction observed between the two factors. Therefore, it can be inferred that using PS 1347 variety of soybean and applying thiourea at 500 ppm during the 23 and 54 DAS is a commendatory option and most remunerative for farmers to improve the productivity and profitability of soybean in India.

References

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How to cite this article

Deepak Kumar Meena, Ajay Kumar, Amit Bhatnagar, R.K. Sharma, Akshay Kumar Yogi, K. Srikanth Reddy, Pragya Naithani and Tejveer Singh (2023). Enhancing Soybean Performance with Foliar Application of Thiourea: A Study on Yield, Quality and Economics. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(2): 843-851.