Guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.) is an important dryland crop of diversified
uses. Traditionally grown for cattle feed, fodder and vegetable, it has now assumed great
significance with increasing demand for high quality gum which is present in abundance in
its seeds. Guar gum finds a ready international market for its ever increasing demand in
various industries like textile, paper, food processing, cosmetics, mining, pharmaceutical,
explosives, petroleum, oil industries, photography refining, etc. Guar, being a leguminous
crop, also adds fertility to the soil by fixing atmospheric nitrogen.
In the wake of this, the cultivation of guar for seed production has been recently
introduced in arid and semi-arid regions. Despite its importance, very little attention has
been paid to study yield variations of guar cultivars due to different times of sowing. Keeping
this in view, the present investigation was undertaken.
A field experiment was conducted during kharif, 2005 on sandy loam soils of dryland
farm of S.V.Agricultural College, Tirupati (Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University) to
study the performance of rainfed guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.) under varied
time of sowing. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with factorial
concept, replicated thrice. The treatments consisted of four times of sowing viz., first (D1
)
and second (D2
) fortnight of July, first (D3
) and second (D4
) fortnight of August and four
cultivars viz., RGC 1003 (V
1
), HG 563 (V
2
), RGM 112 (V
3
) and GAUG 9703 (V
4
). These
varieties are recommended for arid and semi-arid tract of the country. The experimental
site was low in organic carbon (0.25%) and available N (240 kg/ha), medium in available
P
2
O5
(22.7 kg/ha) and available K
2
O (206 kg/ha) and normal in pH (6.9). The entire
recommended dose of fertilizers (20 : 40 : 40 N, P
2
O5
and K
2
O kg/ha) was applied as basal
dose at the time of sowing. Observations were recorded at 25, 50, 75 DAS and at harvest.
The yield characters of guar cultivars were significantly influenced by time of sowing.
Sowing of guar during first fortnight of July resulted in more number of clusters per plant and
number of pods per cluster
-
than the crop sown during other times (Table 1). This can be
attributed to higher biomass accumulation coupled with effective translocation and distribution64
of photosynthates from source to sink, which in turn resulted in elevated stature of yield
attributes which was due to favourable weather conditions such as equal rainfall distribution
and temperature during the crop growth period. Relatively higher levels of yield parameters
of guar sown at first fortnight of July of sowing has been reported earlier by Sharma et al.
(1984), Bhadoria and Chauhan (1994) and Taneja et al. (1995). The crop sown during second
fortnight of August recorded the lowest yield attributes.
The highest seed yield of 951 kg ha
-1
(Table 1) was obtained with first fortnight of July
sowing and yield decreased significantly in other times of sowing. Higher seed yield with
first fortnight of July sowing was mainly due to enhanced yield attributes such as 70 per cent
more number of clusters per plant and 37 per cent more number of pods per cluster which
was due to equally distributed rainfall, optimum temperature during flowering and pod
development stage. The lowest seed yield obtained during second fortnight of August might
be due to reduced photosynthetic activity and translocation of assimilates as a result of high
rainfall and low temperature, which affected pod development and seed formation. The yield
increased with first fortnight of July over second fortnight of July, first fortnight of August and
second fortnight of August was to the tune of 42.0, 74.0 and 82.0 per cent, respectively. The
results are in agreement with those of Sharma et al. (1984), Taneja et al. (1984) and Taneja
et al. (1995).
The stalk yield was maximum when the crop was sown during first fortnight of July
compared to other times of sowing. This was due to better growth and development, resulting
in higher dry matter production(50%). The lowest stalk yield was recorded when the crop was
sown during second fortnight of August.
The crop sown during first fortnight of July recorded the highest crude gum yield due
to higher seed yield and gum content. Sowing beyond first fortnight of July resulted in lesser
crude gum yield due to lower yields.
Different cultivars of guar, having different genetic potentiality are known to respond
differently to similar management practices and the same was also noticed in the present
study. The cultivar RGM 112 produced the highest level of yield attributes such as number
of clusters per plant (23%) and number of pods per cluster (12%) which was on par with HG
563. This might be due to more assimilatory surface leading to higher dry matter production
coupled with effective translocation and distribution of photosynthates from source to sink.
Similar observations were also reported by Bhansali and Bhandri (2004). The lowest number
of yield attributes was recorded with the cultivar GAUG 9703.
The highest seed yield was recorded with RGM 112, which was on par with HG 563
and both were distinctly superior to RGC 1003 and GAUG 9703 (Table 1). The yield increase
KALYANI and REDDY65
Table 1: Yield attributes and yield of Guar cultivars as influenced by time of sowing
Treatments No. of clusters/ No. of Seed yield Stalk yield Crude gum
plant pods/cluster (kg/ha) (kg/ha) yield (kg/ha)
Varieties
RGC 1003 18.4 6.1 463 1441 135
HG 563 19.8 5.7 525 1904 162
RGM 112 20.6 6.0 527 1632 166
GAUG 9703 16.7 5.3 407 2578 123
SEm+ 0.49 0.12 10 40 3
CD (P=0.05) 1.4 0.4 29 117 9
Dates of sowing
I FN July 27.1 6.9 951 2605 299
II FN July 23.1 6.5 553 2256 170
I FN August 17.2 5.4 247 1397 70
II FN August 8.0 4.3 171 1297 48
SEm+50 0.50 0.12 10 40 3
CD (P=0.05) 1.4 0.4 29 117 9
EFFECT OF TIME OF SOWING66
recorded with RGM 112 over RGC 1003 and GAUG 9703 was to the tune of 12.0 and 23.0 per
cent, respectively. This could be ascribed to higher number of clusters per plant and number
of pods per cluster
-1
. The superiority of RGM 112 over other cultivars with respect to yield
components and yield may be due to its genetic potentiality to utilize the growth resources
and translocate photosynthates from source to sink. The lowest seed yield was recorded
with GAUG 9703.
The dominance of vegetative growth with more number of leaves and higher plant
height evidenced by higher stalk yield of GAUG 9703 than other cultivars indicates suitability
of GAUG 9703 for forage production. The lowest stalk yield was observed with RGC 1003.
Higher crude gum yield was obtained with RGM 112, which was on par with HG 563
and significantly superior to RGC 1003 and GAUG 9703. Difference in crude gum yield
might be due to yield differences between the cultivars. The lowest crude gum yield was
recorded with the cultivar GAUG 9703 due to lower yields.
The cultivar RGM 112 sown during first fortnight of July, recorded more number of
clusters per plant, number of pods per cluster, seed and gum yield, which was on par with
HG 563 sown at the same time. This might be due to varietal difference and favourable
weather conditions during the crop growth period. The cultivar GAUG 9703 sown during
second fortnight of August resulted in the lower number of cluster plant
-1
, number of pods
per cluster, seed and gum yield. The highest stalk yield was obtained with GAUG 9703
sown during first fortnight of July whereas RGC 1003 sown during second fortnight of August
recorded the lowest stalk yield.
References
BHADORIA R B S and CHAUHAN V S 1994 Response of clusterbean (Cyamopsis
tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.) to dates of sowing and spacing. Indian Journal of agronomy
39: 156–157.
BHANSALI A K and BHANDRI M M 2004 New clusterbean variety for arid and semi arid tract
of the country. National Symposium on arid legumes for sustainable agriculture and trade,
Jodhpur 5-7 November, 2004.
SHARMA B D, TANEJA K D, KAIRON M S and JAIN V 1984 Effect of dates of sowing and
row spacing on yield and quality of clusterbean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.). Indian
Journal of Agronomy 29 : 557–558.
TANEJA K D, BISHNOI O P, RAO V U M and RAM NIWAS 1995 Effect of environment on
growth and yield of clusterbean. Crop research 9: 159–162.
TANEJA K D, SAINI M L and SHARMA B D 1984 Effect of dates of sowing and row spacing
on the seed yield of guar. Forage research 10: 115–117.
KALYANI and REDDY67
Nitrogen and Phosphorus Requirement of NDLR-8 Vari
