Volume 45 Issue 4 (April 2022) 497 RESEARCH ARTICLE Legume Research- An International Journal, Volume 45 Issue 4: 497-501 (April 2022) Nutrient Use Efficiency and Productivity of Field Pea ( Pisum sativum L.) Influenced by Combined Nitrogen and Sulphur Application Waseem Raja, M. Anwar Bhat, B.A. Allie, Intikhab A. Jehangir, Ashaq Hussain, A.A. Saad, M. Salim Mir 10.18805/LR-4753 ABSTRACT Background: Field pea usually grows in the cold areas of the world unlike the other major pulses of the world. India is one of the largest producers of field pea (8.11 lakh tonnes) in the world on an area of 6.06 lakh hectares (FAOSTAT, 2019). The productivity of field pea is 13.37 q/ha which is quite low compared to France (40.4 q/ha), Italy (30.99 q/ha), Japan (24.8 q/ha) and USA (23.8 q/ha) (FAOSTAT, 2019). One of the reason for low productivity of field pea in India besides other aspects is imbalanced use of fertilizers. However, to apply chemical fertilizers especially nitrogen causes environment pollution. Thus the present study was undertaken to investigate combined effect of sulphur and nitrogen on field pea to increase the productivity and to reduce nitrogen rate. Methods: Field experiment were carried out at Faculty of Agriculture, Wadura, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Kashmir, India during Rabi 2016-17 and 2017-18 under rainfed conditions. The experiment was laid out in factorial RBD with three levels of nitrogen (N 0 = 0 kg/ha, N 1 = 15 kg/ha, N 2 = 30 kg/ha) and four levels of sulphur (S 0 = 0 kg/ha, S 1 = 15 kg/ha, S 2 = 30 kg/ha, S 3 = 45 kg/ha) with three replications. Field pea variety Shalimar Pea-1 was sown with row to row spacing of 30 cm. During both the years, the crop was sown on 2 nd week of October and harvested at physiological maturity. Result: Application 30 kg S/ha and 15 kg N/ha recorded significantly higher seed yield of field pea. Similarly the agronomic efficiency and yield attributing characters were also found significantly higher with application of 30 kg S/ha and 15 kg N/ha. Further increasing levels of sulphur and nitrogen application do not significantly improved seed yield of field-pea. Similar trend was recorded in yield contributing character and agronomic efficiency. Key words: Field pea, Interaction, Nitrogen, Sulphur. INTRODUCTION The demand for pulses in India will increase with a growing population as well as sustained economic growth (Raja et al. 2017). Field pea (Pisum sativum L.) is a major crop of grain legumes for human and animal feeding. The crop is a major protein source with high levels of high nutritional value amino acids, lysine and tryptophan (Bhat et al. 2013). Field pea is one of important rabi pulse crop grown in Kashmir valley. The adequate supply of macro and micro nutrients is necessary for plant growth and to get optimal yield. The S and N plays vital part in the synthesis of proteins, thus these nutrients in plants are highly inter-related. Sulphur deficiency in crops has become widespread (Scherer, 2001) due to intensive cropping and use of sulphur free nitrogenous and phosphate fertilizer. Sulphur requirement is about 8kg per tonne of legume seed. Fazili et al. (2008) stated that deficiency of S limits the efficiency of added N, consequently, S addition becomes essential to improve the efficiency of applied nitrogenous fertilizer. Nitrogen always results in low N use efficiency and serious N losses (Ma et al. 2010) and consequently leads to pollution of surface water, groundwater and the atmosphere (Liu et al. 2005). In order to increase the nitrogen use efficiency and to reduce the rate of nitrogen application the current investigation was undertaken to study of the response of field peas (Pisum sativum L.) to combined sulphur and nitrogen fertilization. MATERIALS AND METHODS The experiment was conducted at Agronomy farm of Sher- e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Faculty of Agriculture, Wadura during rabi 2016-17 and 2017-18 under rainfed conditions. The experimental site falls in temperate zone of North Western Himalayas. The soil was sandy loam in texture having neutral pH, organic carbon 1.82%, 208 kg/ha of available nitrogen, 12.8 kg/ha available P, 297 kg exchangeable K and 13.8 kg available S at the start of study. The experiment was laid out in factorial RBD with three levels Division of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Wadura, Sher-e- Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Kashmir, Srinagar-190 025, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Corresponding Author: Waseem Raja, Division of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Wadura, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Kashmir, Srinagar-190 025, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Email: waseemra1@gmail.com How to cite this article: Raja, W., Bhat, M.A., Allie, B.A., Jaheangir, I.A., Hussain, A., Saad, A.A. and Mir, M.S. (2022). Nutrient Use Efficiency and Productivity of Field Pea ( Pisum sativum L.) Influenced by Combined Nitrogen and Sulphur Application. Legume Research. 45(4): 497-501. DOI: 10.18805/LR-4753. Submitted: 29-07-2021 Accepted: 02-11-2021 Online: 26-02-2022