Genotype and Sowing date effect on growth, yield, and economics of Snow pea

Detailed knowledge of the optimal sowing date for a specific variety in a particular location is crucial for maximizing yield. With this in mind, an experiment was conducted to assess the response of snow pea genotypes to different sowing times. Four genotypes namely, ‘DPEPP-15-1’, ‘DPEPP-10-1’, ‘Arka Apoorva’, and ‘Mithi Phali’ were evaluated under three sowing dates (21st October, 5th and 20th November) during winter seasons of 2018-19 and 2019-20 at Palampur in split plot design using three replications. Early sowing on 21st October followed by 5th November resulted in higher dry matter accumulation, seed and straw yield. Among genotypes, ‘DPEPP-15-1’ was the most promising genotype followed by ‘DPEPP-10-1’ for seed yield, crop dry matter, straw yield, harvest index, and 100-seed weight. ‘DPEPP-15-1’ and ‘DPEPP-10-1’ had advantage of 53 and 45% for seed yield over ‘Arka Apoorva’ in pooled years, respectively. Interaction effects revealed that sowing of ‘DPEPP-15-1’ on 21st October followed by 5th November had higher crop dry matter, seed and straw yield, and monetary gains while ‘DPEPP-10-1’ ranked second and both of them significantly outperformed ‘Arka Apoorva’ and ‘Mithi Phali’.