here - First Legume Society Conference (LSC1)

Book of Abstracts First Legume Society Conference 2013: A Legume Odyssey Novi Sad, Serbia, 9-11 May 2013
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Adopting high yielding cultivars for enhancing legume productivity in rainfed farming
system
AN Tikle 1 , HS Yadava 1 , KB Saxena 2 , GV Ranga Rao 2
1 RVSKVV, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India
2 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, India
In arable and permanent croplands, South Asia has the largest area because India tops all East
and South Asia & Pacific countries, with 202.83 m ha. Rainfed mixed farming covers the largest
area within the subcontinent and is confined to India. This system covers 147 million ha, with
about 59% under cultivation. Arid and rainfed mixed farming systems are associated with
extensive poverty. High inequality of land distribution and declining average farm size pose the
question. In one of the aspect of increasing sustainable and resilient production, building on best
local practices while exploiting the latest research and technology and nurturing innovation, it
focused not only on developing and making available improved technologies, but also on
building the capabilities of poor rural people as producers and managers of increasingly scarce
natural resources. In this context, the state of Madhya Pradesh- a largest legume producer was
chosen for increasing the productivity of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan). The aim is to raise and
stabilize the incomes of poor rural people, so they can improve their food security. The
dissemination of knowledge of adopting new high yielding, wilt resistant cultivars of pigeonpea, is
changing yield levels through sustainability in yield. Pigeonpea is mostly grown as inter crop with
soybean on residual moisture. The intercultural operations in soybean favours the crop growth of
pigeonpea and also reduces the cost of inter culturing. After the harvest of soybean, the
pigeonpea triggers its growth and cover the whole area like sole crop. The shaded leaves of
soybean provides the mulching effect on surface soil, checking soil moisture evaporation, thus
providing long lasting sub surface moisture to pigeonpea till its reproductive stage. The high
yielding varieties like JKM 189, JA 4 and newly released hybrid RVICPH 2671 has increased the
yield manifold in rainfed farming system and helped the marginal farmers in boosting their
productivity of unit area.
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