An Incubation Experiment on Screening of Black Gram Varieties for Tolerance to Saline Irrigation Water

Water is a second most important resource in agriculture followed by land. The water availability for irrigation is often scarce, is one of the most critical input for agriculture production in most areas. Productivity in these areas can be enhanced by better management of rainwater and /or development of groundwater. So the present investigation was carried out to study the effect of saline water irrigation on the growth of blackgram. The various treatment included in the study were three ruling varieties of blackgram as factor V viz., V1- VBN 6, V2- VBN 4 and V3- VBN 3 and four salinity levels as factor S viz., S1-EC-3 dS m-1 and Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR) - 4; S2-EC- 3 dS m-1 and SAR-6; S3-EC-3 dS m-1 and SAR-8; S4-EC-6 dS m-1 and SAR-6. The experiment was laid out in a Factorial Completely Randomized Design (FCRD) with three replications. The results of the study concluded that the soil application of saline water (EC-3 dS m-1 and SAR-4) irrigation to saline tolerant blackgram variety VBN 3 (S1V3) was identified as best treatment combination to realize the maximum germination of blackgram under saline water irrigation.