Abstract

                                To improve the fertility of the soil, several green manure crops are being cultivated. Dhaincha, is an ideal green manure crop used for the improvement of soil fertility and it also reclaims problematic soils. To screen out the Dhaincha genotypes based on the seedling biomass, a pot culture experiment was carried out at the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tiruchirappalli, with four different genotypes namely Vellore local, Villupuram local, Sivagangai local and Pant dhaincha. Root length, shoot length, fresh and dry weight of root & shoot, base diameter, and biomass per plant were recorded at ten day of intervals till sixty days after sowing. All the parameters showed significant variation and increased steadily every ten days after sowing. Sivagangai local recorded the highest growth parameters than the other genotypes. The highest biomass yield was observed in Villupuram local (0.029 g/plant) at 10 DAS, indicating that it produces more biomass during the early stages of growth. At 60 DAS, Vellore local recorded a high total biomass yield (2.3 g/plant), followed by Villupuram local (1.2 g/plant), Sivagangai local (1.08 g/ plant), and Pant dhaincha (0.9 g/ plant). Based on the growth parameters and High biomass yield per plant Sivagangai local and Vellore local can be selected for further crossing programmes.

Key words : Dhaincha; Biomass yield; Green manure; Soil fertility