Growth and yield of garden pea (Pisum sativum L.) varieties as influenced by different sowing times under poplar (Populus deltoides Bartr.) based agroforestry system

Abstract

The current study was conducted under five- and six-years old poplar block plantation at Bathinda and Ludhiana, Punjab respectively to derive the optimum sowing time and potential variety of garden pea. Four garden pea varieties (AP-3, Matar Ageta-7, Punjab 89 and Mithi Phali) were sown thrice on 1^st October, 15^th October and 1^st November under two cropping systems (poplar + garden pea and sole garden pea) during rabi season 2021-22. The sowing of garden pea by 1^st November resulted in the highest pod yield (83.5 and 80.4 q ha^-1), which was statistically at par with 15^th October (80.3 and 77.6 q ha^-1) sown crop at Bathinda and Ludhiana respectively. The variety Punjab 89 produced the maximum branches and pods per plant, seeds per pod, 100 seed weight and pod yield; while the longest pods were of Mithi Phali under both poplar as well as in sole crop. Overall, there was reduction of 42-45% in garden pea yield under five- and six-year-old poplar plantation as compared with the sole crop.