Response of field pea varieties (Pisum sativum) to sowing time in coastal West Bengal

A field experiment was conducted at Purba Medinipur Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Nandakumar, Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, India during winter (rabi) season of 2021–22 to study the effect of two sowing dates (4 November and 24 November) on phenology, growth and yield of four field pea varieties (‘IPFD 11-5’, ‘IPFD 10-12’, ‘IPFD 12-2’ and ‘IPFD 6-3’). The average phenophase duration from sowing to 50% emergence, 10% flowering, and 10% podding were 6.2, 54.1 and 63.2 days, respectively. With delay in sowing from 4 to 24 November, the growth attributes like LAI, dry matter accumulation, root length and nodulation were significantly improved. Among 4 varieties, ‘IPFD 6-3’ had greater plant vigour due to highest plant height (66.04 cm) and number of branches/plant (16.50) at 80 DAS. Genetic variation was noted in number of branches/plant (11.7–16.5), pod length (5.2–6.1 cm), number of seeds/pod (2.7–3.8) and 1000-seed weight (159.4–168.3 g). Field pea sown on 24 November had higher grain yield (785.6 kg/ha), which was 5.9% greater over early November sowing due to higher plant population (35.3 plants/m2) and 1000-grain weight (169.6 g). Based on yield performance, four varieties could be arranged as ‘IPFD 6-3’ (818.0 kg/ha) > ‘IPFD 12-2’ (787.5 kg/ha) > ‘IPFD 10-12’ (731.5 kg/ha) > ‘IPFD 11-5’ (716.8 kg/ha).