MATERIAL AND METHODS

This chapter illustrates the material and the methodology will be used for
the study on "Effect of Moisture Stress on Yield and Growth Attributing
Characters on soyabean”.The details of the materials used and the
experimental techniques adopted during the course of investigation has
been presented in this chapter.

3.1 Experimental Site

The Experiment will be conducted at All India Co-ordinated Research

Project (AICRP), for Dry Land Agricultural Farm, for Soybean crop during
kharif season of 2024. The soil type ranges from medium to deep black
with pH of 8.2. Geographically Parbhani is situated at 17° 36' North
latitude and 76º 47' East longitudes with an elevation of 406m above
mean sea level (Agriculture contingency plan-Parbhani district).

3.2 Climate and weather conditions

The weather prevailing at Parbhani station is categorized as sub-tropical

and semi- arid. The region falls an assured rainfall agro-climatic zone of
Maharashtra with average annual precipitation of 892mm mostly received
between June to September. Rainfall is uneven, erratic and varies from
year to year. This tract receiving more than 80% of the rainfall from south-
west monsoon. Vasantarao Naik Marathwada Agricultural University,
Parbhani which falls under semi-arid tropics having highest temperature
44°C during month of May and lowest 11°C during December. The
minimum and maximum relative humidity varies between 25 to 63 and 85
to 96 percent, respectively

3.3 Major crop in the area:

Cropping systems and cropping patterns are mainly influenced by rainfall

pattern. The cropping pattern mainly followed in kharif is soybean, cotton,
pigeon pea, sorghum, black gram and green gram. The major crops grown
in rabi are gram, safflower and rabi sorghum.

3.4 Soil and its characteristics

The Parbhani district comes under Deccan plateau, hot semi-arid eco-
region and soil is made up from Deccan basalt trap rocks. These soils are
traditionally known black cotton soils. The soils of Marathwada region in
general are low in available nitrogen and low to medium in available
phosphorus. However, available potash is in abundance.

3.4.1 Soil of the experimental plot

The topography of the experimental plot was fairly leveled. The field
capacity and wilting point of the soil was recorded 32-35 and 8-10%
respectively. The soil was medium black in texture having depth up to 60
cm, the bulk density of soil was 1.27 gm/cc, physical and chemical
composition of experimental plot are shown in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1. Physical-chemical properties of experimental soil

Sr.N Soil characteristics Unit Value

o
A Mechanical
composition
1 Coarse sand Per cent 6.58
2 Fine sand Per cent 10.30
3 Clay Per cent 54.40
4 Silt Per cent 21.44
Bulk Density g/cc 1.27
B Chemical
Composition
1 pH 8.02
2 EC dSm-1 0.16
3 Organic carbon Per cent 0.62
4 CaCO3 g/kg 5.7
5 Available N Kg/ha 135.6
6 Available P Kg/ha 4.00
7 Available K Kg/ha 829.4
(Source: Dept. Of Soil Science and Soil Chemistry, V.N.M.K.V. Parbhani)

3.5 Field layout

Prior to planting, soil of the experimental plot was deeply ploughed with
tractor mounted mould board plough across the slope and well pulverized.
Field experiment was planned comprising of opening of furrow as the main
factor in RBD with five treatments each having four replications. The
soybean was sown on 22nd July, 2024. The soil moisture was measured
during time of sowing. Furrows were opened with the bullock drawn
Baliram plough across the slope in the pigeon pea after 35 days of sowing.

3.6 Experiment details

The field experiment was conducted during 2024-2025 kharif season.

However, the experiment was initiated during the year 2024-25 at AICRP
for Dryland Agriculture, VNMKV, Parbhani.Field experiment will plan to
comprise of treatments of real time contingency practices at following
growth stages of soybean.

1) 0-30 days : Vegetative stage

 2) 30-60 days : Flowering stage
3) 60-90 days : Pod formation

3.6.1 Treatment Details

T1. Management of crops during dry spell (Real time intervention)

1. Dust mulching (Hoeing)
2. Opening of furrow after every 4 rows 30 DAS
3. Application of KNO3
4. Protective irrigation using sprinkler irrigation method from farm
pond
T2. Control (Flatbed sowing, No real time intervention)

3.4 Design specification

Field size : 30×30m

Replication :4

Crop and verity : Soyabean MAUS-158

Botanical name : Glycine max

Soil type : Medium black

Each plot size : 10×30

Crop spacing : 45-50cm

3.5 Methodology

3.5.1 Soil Moisture Studies

In order to assess the changes in soil moisture status in soil regime, soil
moisture will be determined with the help of gravimetric method by using
a screw auger. Soil moisture will be collected at sowing and during crop
growth stages at 0-15cm, 15-30cm and keep in oven at 105°C for 24 hrs.
Soil 45cm depths in soil profile. The soil samples were collected in
aluminum containers. Initial soil samples were weighed by sensitive
weighing balance on the field and then, they kept in oven for drying at
105 °C for about 24 hours, until all the moisture was driven off. After
removing from oven they were cooled slowly to room temperature and
weighed the dried soil sample. Per-cent soil moisture content was
calculated by oven dry method using following formula,
182 Soil moisture content on volume basis

per-cent soil water content in the soil profile was worked out by dard
gravimetric method. The soil water content was then converted to

volume basis (mm) as

d=(Mi+100) DiAi

Where. Mi = is soil moisture content (%) of ith layer.

Di = is soil depth of ith layer (mm).

Ai = Apparent specific gravity of ith layer.

3.8.3 Estimation of Reference Crop Evapotranspiration (ETo)

Reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo) is the rate of evapotranspiration

from a hypothetical reference. According to this definition the daily
reference evapotranspiration was estimated by using the standard i.e.
Penman Monteith method.

3.8.4 Data Collection and Analysis

The methodology consists of collection of long term daily weather data

such as daily rainfall (mm), maximum temperature (Tmax, °C) and
minimum temperature (Tmin, °C), maximum relative humidity (RHmax, %)
and minimum relative humidity (RHmin, %), pan evaporation (Epan, mm),
wind Speed (WS, km/hr) and sunshine hours (SSHr, Hr) for Parbhani
station of Marathwada region. The data was collected for Parbhani station
from the Department of Agricultural Meteorology, VNMKV, Parbhani. For
the calculation of ETo for all growth stages, sum of the daily
meteorological data was considered for individual crop growth stages.

3.5.2 The growth stages of soybean crops

growth stages of soybean crops can be divided into two main phases:
vegetative (V) stages and reproductive (R) stages. These stages are
commonly referred to using the Fehr and Caviness growth stage
classification.
vegetative (V) stages:

1. VE (Emergence): The soybean seedling emerges from the soil.

2. VC (Cotyledon stage): Cotyledons fully unfold and the plant is now

visible.

3. V1 (First-node stage): The first set of trifoliate leaves (unifoliate leaves)

are fully developed.

4. V2 (Second-node stage): The second set of trifoliate leaves are

fully developed.

Reproductive (R) Stages:

1. R1 (Beginning Bloom): The plant has at least one flower on any node.

2. R2 (Full Bloom): An open flower is visible at one of the two uppermost

nodes with a fully developed leaf.

3. R3 (Beginning Pod): A pod is 5 mm (3/16 inch) long at one of the four

uppermost nodes.

4. R4 (Full Pod): A pod is 2 cm (3/4 inch) long at one of the four uppermost
nodes

. 5. R5 (Beginning Seed): Seeds are 3 mm (1/8 inch) long in the pod at one
of the four uppermost nodes.

6. R6 (Full Seed): A pod containing a green seed fills the pod cavity at one
of the four uppermost nodes.

3.8.7 Biometric observations and statistical analysis

In order to study the effect of moisture conservation practices on growth

attributes and yield of soybean under different furrow opening treatments,
it was necessary to collect data on the plant growth attributes of the crops
in the experimental plot. These data were collected during the
experimental period and analyzed further for interpretations. Replication
wise crop growth parameters including plant height, number of branches,
and number of pods of randomly selected plants from each plot were
recorded. These plants were properly labeled and growth parameters were
monitored on them. The observation at harvest include weight of pigeon
pea crop and yield of crop.

Plant height

The plant height (cm) was measured at different stages of pigeon from the
ground level at the base of growing point to the top of the straightened
shoot. For that five plants were randomly selected in each treatment.
Plant width

Plant growth stage-wise width of plant emerged from main stem were
counted per plant and recorded the five randomly selected plants from
each plot

Number of pods

Plant growth stage-wise pods per plant were counted and recorded at
harvest of five randomly selected plants from each plot.

3.10.1 Automatic Water Level Recorder

The treatment wise runoff and soil loss were measured using automatic
stage level recorders with H flume and stilling basin shown in plate 2. The
horizontal drum type Stage water level recorder is the very common type
mechanical water level recorder. It records the runoff observed,
continuously. Float is kept over the water surface in a stilling basin during
measurement. Corresponding to the variation in flow depth (stage), the
movement of float is transmitted to the cam with the help of set of gears.
During this action the pen moves on the chart in horizontal direction,
which traces a curve in the form of graph on the chart wrapped over the
drum. The drum is equipped with a clock. This recorder modifies the
vertical movement of counter weighted float into a curvilinear trend,
mechanically. Recording of observation is in the form of graph between
the flow stage relative to a datum plane and corresponding time.

3.10.2 Installation of H - Type flume with Water Level Recorder:

These flumes are suitable for free flow condition. The free flow condition
takes place when there is a sufficient fall near the outlet of flume. This
flume is suitable for measuring the runoff containing the sediments in
suspension form and low bed loads. It provides accurate measurement of
low and high water flows, because of having the provision of increasing
the throat opening as per rise in flow stage. The practical view and H-
flume installation in the field is shown in Plate 3 & 4 There is no need for
cleaning the device. Its converging section causes automatic cleaning by
increasing the flow velocity. It is very simple in construction, stable in
operation and requires minimum maintenance. The range for measuring
runoff discharge is from 9.0 × 103 to 0.85 m³s¹.

3.10.3 Collection of runoff water through H - flume for soil loss

measurement:

Runoff samples were collected in 1- liter sampling bottles for each runoff
event occurred during the kharif season, 2024. Time was noted for filling
1- liter bottle while collecting the runoff sample by using a stop watch.
Thus the runoff rate was obtained. The collected runoff samples were
allowed to settle down for 24-48 hours. The amount of sediment
concentration collected from each runoff plot was estimated by using
oven drying method.

Item Description Ite Description

No. m
No.
1 Base 15 Support pin for chart drum
2 Carriage diver pulley 16 Flange for float pulley
3 Guide pulley 17 Float pulley
4 Standard left side 18 Washer
5 Chart drum adjusting 19 Float pulley nut
support pin
6 Thumb clamp screw 20 Roller pin for guide pulley
7 Pin for chart 21 Float pulley shaft
8 Chart holder spring 22 Carriage support rods
9 Chart 23 Standard right side
10 Pen carriage assembly 24 Ball bearings for float pulley
11 Pen capillary type with 25 Ball bearing for chart drum
reservoir
12 Pen adjusting screws 26 Clock mounting screws
13 Chart drum with bearings 27 Float
14 Gage gears 28 Counter weight