Nickel Fertilization as Plant’s Foes or Friends?- Evaluation by Yield Attributes of Mash [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper] Genotypes

Abstract

Background: Nickel can act as micronutrient essential for nitrogen fixation in legume crops or it can cause toxicity when present in high concentration. Rhizospheric supplement of Nickel be at a dose not beyond its beneficial level. Methods: An experiment was conducted for mash bean genotypes to evaluate the toxic level of Nickel concentrations. Seeds of four genotypes were sown in earthen pots filled with homogenized loamy soil. Nickel was added as its chloride salt solutions at the age of twenty days @ 15.0, 30.0, 45.0, 60.0, 75.0 and 90.0 mg kg-1 soil. Yield plant-1 and its contributing factors were recorded at physiological maturity of crop. Result: At low concentration, Nickel appeared to be non toxic and high doses reduced yield attributes. The lowest significantly effective dose which affected the parameters was 45 mg kg-1 except for number of legumes plant-1 for which same was true at 60 mg kg-1. While, the most effective dose was 45 mg kg-1 for each attributes. The observations were excluded from the ongoing trend when 15 mg kg-1 Nickel reflected positive role. Of the genotypes, MASH 80 was the least productive while MASH 88 was the most productive. In terms of grain numbers, MASH 97 was the least sensitive.