Root System Architecture and Symbiotic Parameters of Summer Mung Bean ( Vigna Radiata ) under Different Conservation Agriculture Practices

Arun Kumar, Kulvir Singh Saini, Lalit Kumar Rolaniya, Love Kumar Singh and Prashant Kaushik
Additional contact information
Arun Kumar: Department of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141004, India
Kulvir Singh Saini: Department of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141004, India
Lalit Kumar Rolaniya: Department of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141004, India
Love Kumar Singh: Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), Ludhiana 141008, India
Prashant Kaushik: Kikugawa Research Station, Yokohama Ueki, 2265, Kamo, Kikugawa City 439-0031, Shizuoka, Japan

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-13

Abstract: Root system architecture plays a vital role in plant growth, development, and adaptation by absorbing water and nutrients and providing mechanical support for growing plants. Unfortunately, little information is available in the literature on the root dynamics of summer mung bean under conservation agriculture conditions. In this study, field experiments were conducted during the summer seasons of two consecutive years (2020 and 2021) to investigate the root system dynamics of summer mung bean under different conservation agriculture practices. The highest stem and system width, depth to width length, number of nodal roots, taproot diameter, secondary root length (both right and left) of summer mung bean were recorded in the Soybean (permanent bed; PB)-Wheat(PB)-Summer mung (PB)(+Residual; +R) based cropping systems, followed by Maize(PB)-Wheat(PB)-Summer mung (PB)(+R), while, the lowest values of above parameters were recorded in the Puddled Transplanted Rice–Conventional till (PTR-CT)Wheat-Summer mung (-R). Further, the pod length, number of seeds per pod, number of pods per plant, seed yield and symbiotic parameters (including number of nodules per plant, leghaemoglobin content) and root dry weight were recorded highest in Soybean (PB)-Wheat (PB)-Summer mung (PB)(+R). Interestingly, the yield of summer mung bean increased around 13.4–29.5% when residues were retained on the soil surface with treatments involving residual removal. The soil dehydrogenase enzyme activity increased significantly under Soybean (PB)-Wheat (PB)-Summer mung (PB)(+R) based cropping system as compared to PTR-CT Wheat-Summer mung (-R). In addition, the number of pods per plant exhibited a significantly positive correlation with yield during both crop seasons. Overall, this study suggests that the inclusion of summer mung in soybean-based cropping systems may substantially improve the root architecture and soil quality and increase crop yield under conservation agriculture.

Keywords: root; residues; symbiotic; yield; conservation agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/3901/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/3901/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:3901-:d:779912

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().