Irrigation management in Pigeonpea under rainfed Alfisols

Pigeonpeais one of the major crops and grown in an area of 67,547 ha in drought prone Ananthapuramu district. However due usage of the long duration traditional Pigeonpea varieties and continuous failure of the NE monsoon coincides with the crop critical stages (Flower bud initiation, flowering, pod development in the district are the major drawbacks for the declined productivity. An attempt was done at Agricultural Research Station, Ananthapuramu on different options available for the irrigation to the pigeonpea crop during kharif,2016. Experimental results revealed that growth parameters like plant height and stem girth were higher with continuous irrigations whereas higher yield and yield attributing parameters were registered with flooding (irrigation at all five critical stages irrigations). Flood irrigation at 5 critical stages registered the highest additional net income of Rs 1,10,300 ha-1 which was closely followed by Drip irrigation at flowering and pod development stages with an additional net income of Rs 94,100, However higher BC ratio (7.63) was obtained with Drip irrigation at flowering and pod development stages. Drip irrigation at Flowering and Pod development registered higher water use efficiency (3.68 kg ha-1mm-1) on mean basis.