Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and Character Interrelationship of Irrigated Blackgram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper] Influenced by Liquid Organic Biostimulants in Western Zone of Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Background: Blackgram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper] has significant agronomic and nutritional significance. Its productivity is insufficient to fulfil the expanding local demand in India. Increasing its productivity using appropriate agronomic practices is crucial. With this background, an experiment was conducted to study the effect of foliar application of liquid organic bio-stimulants on development, production and physiological characteristics of blackgram under irrigated conditions. Methods: Seven treatments comprising recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) with foliar spray of dhasagavya, liquid rhizobium, fish amino acid, panchagavya, PPFM and seaweed extract at 1% and 3%, respectively were tested in randomised block design with three replications. The dimension of blackgram quantitative characters, viz., grain yield, plant height, number of branches per plant, dry matter production (DMP), leaf area index (LAI), number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, pod weight per plant, pod length, crop growth rate, total chlorophyll content, soluble protein content and nitrate reductase activity were reduced using principal component analysis (PCA). Result: The PCA was performed on all the attributes as correlation between the quantitative characters was found to be stronger among most of the biometric observations. It was noticed that almost 67% of the data’s total variability, as reflected by the first two principal components. It demonstrated that grain production, DMP, nitrate reductase activity, pods per plant and leaf area index were the primary contributors.