Vol. 7, Issue 9 (2018)

Author(s):
Argha Ghosh, Mousumi Malo, Sushanta Sarkar and Safiuddin Ahmed Khan

Abstract:
In order to study the effect of thermal condition on crop growth of grass pea, field experiment was conducted during Rabi season of 2016-2017 at the Instructional Farm, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal. The experiment was carried out in Randomized Complete Block Design with nine treatments (nine dates of sowing starting from 26^th October to 21^st December at weekly interval). Crop sown on 16^th November produced highest leaf area index at 42 DAS (0.56), 63 DAS (0.89) and at the time of harvest (1.39). During 63 DAS to 84 DAS, crop growth rate was positively correlated with maximum, minimum and average air temperatures (r = 0.70*). Diurnal temperature difference during 63 DAS to 84 DAS showed harmful effect on relative growth rate (r = -0.69*) while during 84 DAS to harvest, diurnal temperature difference showed significant positive effect on NAR (r = 0.67*). The influence of temperature and thermal indices on crop growth parameters varied as growth stages and sowing dates changed.