Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2018) 7(8): 1125-1128 1123 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2018.708.127 Effect of Row Spacing, Varieties and Sowing Dates on Growth and Yield of Pigeonpea Sharanappa Kuri*, H.S. Shivaramu, M.N. Thimmegowda, S.B. Yogananda, S.S. Prakash and Murukannappa Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru-65 *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] is the second most important pulse crop of India after chickpea. In India, it is grown over an area of 0.38 m ha with a production of 0.33 m t and the productivity is 859 kg ha -1 (Anon., 2016a). It is often grown on marginal lands under rainfed condition and usually intercropped with cereals and sole crop. Besides, fixing atmospheric nitrogen, pigeonpea sheds most of its leaves at maturity and helps to improve the soil organic matter and thus the soil health. The pigeonpea growers face several constraints which come in the way of boosting its productivity. The International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 08 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Field experiment was conducted during Kharif-2015-16 and 2016-17 at AICRP on Agrometeorology, Gandhi Krishi Vignana Kendra (GKVK), UAS, Bangalore to assess the effect of row spacing, varieties and date of sowing on growth and yield of pigeonpea. Significantly higher growth parameters viz., plant height (165.4 cm), leaf area index (2.10), leaf area duration (60.34 days) and crop growth rate (2.39 g m -2 day -1 ) and yield parameters (grain: 940 kg ha -1 and stalk: 4089 kg ha -1 ) were recorded in narrow row spacing (60 cm) compared to wider row spacing (90 and 120 cm). The TTB-7 recorded significantly higher growth viz., plant height (163.6 cm), no. of branches per plant (10.4), total dry matter accumulation per plant (65.33 g), leaf area per plant (3429 cm -2 ), leaf area index (1.81), leaf area duration (50.97 days) and crop growth rate (2.33 g m -2 day -1 ) and yield (grain: 914 kg ha -1 and stalk: 3427 kg ha -1 ) compared to BRG-2 variety. Significantly recoded higher growth viz., plant height (185.2 cm), no. of branches per plant (10.7), total dry matter accumulation per plant (71.26 g), leaf area per plant (4030 cm -2 ), leaf area index (2.12), leaf area duration (57.23 days) and crop growth rate (2.66 g m -2 day -1 ) and yield (grain: 1149 kg ha -1 and stalk: 3721 kg ha -1 ) parameters in May had sown pigeonpea than June and July. Significantly higher grain yield (1284 kg ha -1 ) and stalk yield (4980 kg ha -1 ) was observed in narrow row spacing (60 cm) with TTB-7 variety at May month sown crop (S 1 V 1 D 1 ) which was on par with S 2 V 1 D 1 , S 1 V 1 D 2 and S 1 V 2 D 1 . Significantly lower grain yield (344 kg ha -1 ) was recorded in wider row spacing (120 cm) with BRG-2 at July sown crop (S 3 V 2 D 3 ) and lower stalk yield (1932 kg ha -1 ) was observed in wider row spacing (120 cm) with TTB-7 at July month sown crop (S 3 V 1 D 3 ). Keywords Varieties, Dates of sowing, Spacing, Growth, Yield Accepted: 08 July 2018 Available Online: 10 August 2018 Article Info