To assess economic feasibility of urdbean cultivation under drip fertigation with water soluble fertilizer

Field experiments on drip fertigation in urdbean were conducted at the Department of Pulses, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University to assess the economic feasibility of urdbean cultivation under drip fertigation with Water Soluble Fertilizer (WSF). Urdbean, being a short-duration pulse crop, is widely cultivated under rainfed conditions in submarginal land. It results in low productivity. Urdbean had a high response to irrigation and fertilizer application. The result revealed that a 75 percent yield increment was observed in urdbean with drip fertigation of 100 percent Recommended Dose of Fertilizer (RDF) through WSF compared to surface irrigation basal application of fertilizer. The same treatment also gave a higher water use efficiency of 4.70 kg/ha mm, net monetary returns of ₹. 43132 /ha with benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of 1.98 while higher nutrient use efficiency of 15.2 kg /kg of fertilizer had been recorded with drip fertigation of 75 % RDF through water-soluble fertilizer. Hence, it might have been concluded that drip fertigation of 100% RDF through WSF enhances the yield and profitability in urdbean.