Efficacy of bio-fertilizers and chemical fertilizers on growth and yield of cowpea varieties

Table 1.

Physico-chemical characteristics of soil in the experimental field.

Treatment		Plant height (cm)
Treatment		30 DAS	45 DAS	60 DAS
Variety	Malepatan-1 (V1)	40.06^b	77.56^a	125.73^a
	Stickless (V2)	42.72^a	64.37^b	86.19^b
LSD (0.05)		1.26	1.26	7.30
SEM (±)		0.21	0.44	1.24
F-test		***	***	***
CV (%)		4.42	2.57	9.96
Fertilizer	Control	37.06^d	60.16^e	86.46^c
	Mycorrhiza	40.58^c	68.60^d	101.79^bc
	Rhizobium	40.99^bc	67.89^cd	98.40^b
	RDF	41.45^bc	72.97^bc	109.86^b
	Mycorrhiza + Rhizobium	43.15^ab	74.27^b	111.38^b
	Mycorrhiza + Rhizobium + RDF	45.10^a	81.90^a	127.85^a
LSD (0.05)		2.19	4.56	12.64
SEM (±)		0.12	0.25	0.71
F-test		***	***	***
CV (%)		4.42	5.37	9.96
Grand mean		41.39	70.96	105.96
Data in columns with the same letters in DMRT are not significantly different (p = 0.05), SEM = Standard Errors of Means, CV = Coefficient of Variation, LSD = Least Significant Difference, *** = significant at p < 0.001.

Table 2.

Effect of different varieties and fertilizers on the plant height of cowpea.

Treatment		Number of branches plant⁻¹
Treatment		30 DAS	45 DAS	60 DAS
Variety	Malepatan-1	2.71^a	4.09^b	5.39^b
	Stickless	2.03^b	4.49^a	6.36^a
LSD (0.05)		0.26	0.34	0.45
SEm (±)		0.044	0.059	0.078
F-test		***	*	***
CV (%)		15.90	11.74	11.12
Fertilizer	Control	2.03^c	3.72^b	5.25^c
	Mycorrhiza	2.13^c	4.13^b	5.34^bc
	Rhizobium	2.28^bc	3.80^b	5.61^bc
	RDF	1.94^c	4.13^b	5.94^bc
	Mycorrhiza + Rhizobium	2.69^b	4.33^b	6.14^b
	Mycorrhiza + Rhizobium + RDF	3.16^a	5.63^a	6.97^a
LSD (0.05)		0.45	0.604	0.78
SEM (±)		0.025	0.034	0.045
F-test		***	***	**
CV (%)		15.90	11.74	11.12
Grand mean		2.37	4.29	5.87
Data in columns with the same letters in DMRT are not significantly different (p = 0.05), SEM = Standard Errors of Means, CV = Coefficient of Variation, LSD = Least Significant Difference, * = significant at p < 0.05, = significant at p < 0.01, * = significant at p<0.001.

Table 3.

Effect of different varieties and fertilizers on the branches per plant of cowpea.

Treatment		Pods plant^-1	Seed weight plant⁻¹ (g)	Pod length (cm)
Variety	Malepatan-1	27.50^b	72.29^a	25.39
	Stickless	31.34^a	66.08^b	26.31
LSD (0.05)		2.62	4.85
SEM (±)		0.44	0.82
F-test		**	*	NS
CV (%)		12.92	10.15
Fertilizer	Control	24.61^c	47.92^d	23.47
	Mycorrhiza	28.47^bc	62.21^c	27.01
	Rhizobium	27.86^bc	57.01^c	25.25
	RDF	26.52^c	57.65^c	25.81
	Mycorrhiza + Rhizobium	31.86^b	88.98^b	25.71
	Mycorrhiza + Rhizobium + RDF	37.19^a	101.35^a	27.84
LSD (0.05)		4.55	8.41
SEM (±)		0.25	0.47
F-test		***	***	NS
CV (%)		12.92	10.15
Grand mean		29.42	69.19
Data in columns with the same letters in DMRT are not significantly different (p = 0.05), SEM = Standard Errors of Means, CV = Coefficient of Variation, LSD = Least Significant Difference, * = significant at p < 0.05, = significant at p < 0.01, * = significant at p < 0.001, NS = Non-significant.

Table 4.

Effect of different varieties and fertilizers on the pods per plant, seed weight and pod length of cowpea.

Treatment		Yield plot⁻¹ (g)	Yield hectare (kg ha⁻¹)	1,000 seed weight (g)
Variety	Malepatan-1	1,273.24^a	3,536.83^a	151.62^a
	Stickless	1,173.21^b	3,258.94^b	125.46^b
LSD (0.05)		92.82	257.86	13.06
SEM (±)		15.82	43.96	2.23
F-test		*	*	***
CV (%)		10.97	10.97	13.64
Fertilizer	Control	933.27^b	2,592.43^b	116.38^b
	Mycorrhiza	1,024.27^b	2,845.21^b	123.08^b
	Rhizobium	1,061.67^b	2,949.10^b	123.03^b
	RDF	1,067.35^b	2,964.90^b	124.71^b
	Mycorrhiza + Rhizobium	1,555.69^a	4,321.41^a	167.19^a
	Mycorrhiza + Rhizobium + RDF	1,697.12^a	4,714.26^a	176.83^a
LSD (0.05)		160.78	446.62	22.62
SEM (±)		9.13	25.38	1.28
F-test		***	***	***
CV (%)		10.97	10.97	13.64
Grand mean		1,223.23	3,397.89	138.54
Data in columns with the same letters in DMRT are not significantly different (p = 0.05), SEM = Standard Errors of Means, CV = Coefficient of Variation, LSD = Least Significant Difference, * = significant at p < 0.05, *** = significant at p < 0.001.

Table 5.

Effect of different varieties and fertilizers on the yield and test weight of cowpea.

S.N.	New condition	New total cost (NRs.)	New gross return (NRs.)	Net return (NRs.)	BCR	Remarks
1	Total cost increased by 10%	119625	518569.2	398944.2	3.33	Still feasible
2	Gross benefit decreased by 10%	108750	466712.3	357962.3	3.29	Still feasible
3	Total cost increased by 10% and gross benefit decreased by 10%	119625	466712.3	347087.3	2.90	Still feasible

Table 6.

Sensitivity analysis of cowpea with the application of mycorrhiza + rhizobium treatment.