PJB-2026-78
BALANCING MINERAL FERTILIZATION REGIMES FOR BOOSTING BIOMASS PRODUCTIVITY AND NUTRIENT ENRICHMENT OF FORAGE RICEBEAN (VIGNA UMBELLATA)
Asif IQBAL
Abstract
Under the changing climate of semi-arid regions, optimization of mineral fertilizer regimes has become essential to minimize environmental degradation, support ecological recovery, and sustain the production of biomass crops. There are significant research gaps concerning the macronutrients (nitrogen N, phosphorus P, and potassium K) requirement of untraditional and underutilized leguminous forage crops like ricebean, especially in low-fertility semi-arid regions. To bridge this research gap, a two-year field experiment was conducted to study the growth, forage yield and nutritional quality of ricebean as affected by different fertilization regimes including single fertilization regimen (N 150 kg ha-1), double fertilization regime (N 150 kg ha-1 and P 100 ha-1), and triple fertilization regime (N 150 kg ha-1, P 100 kg ha-1, and K 100 kg ha-1). A control (no fertilization) treatment was maintained for comparison. The results showed that all fertilization treatments performed better than the control; the triple fertilization regime remained superior by producing the highest plant density, plant height, and leaf area index, along with fresh and dry weight of ricebean during both seasons. Additionally, this fertilization regime recorded its supremacy by producing the highest green forage yield and dry matter biomass. Concerning the nutritional quality of forage ricebean, the triple fertilization regime gave the greatest contents of crude protein, ether extractable fats, and total ash, whereas fiber content was significantly decreased. Double fertilization regime followed it, which in turn was followed by a single fertilization regimen, underscoring the need for integrated and balanced supplementation of macronutrients for forage ricebean production in semi-arid regions. However, further research is needed to examine the impact of these fertilizer regimes on nitrogen fixation rate in ricebean root nodules, along with the estimation of nutrient losses in the form of leaching and volatilization.
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