On-farm evaluation of yellow mosaic virus (YMV) resistant varieties of black gram for southern zone of Tamil Nadu

Black gram is the major pulse crop cultivated in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu over 21,000 ha and yellow mosaic virus of the crop is the major problemfaced bythefarmers which leads to major reduction in yield. Anattempt was made to identify yellow mosaic virus resistant varieties suitable for this region through farmer participatory onfarm evaluation of varieties during 2018. The study revealed that lower disease incidence of 1.5 per cent was recorded in VBN 8 which was superior to other varieties and highest of 40 per cent disease incidence was recorded in farmers practicing variety VBN 4. Variety VBN 8 recorded higher yield of 8.0 q/ha which was on par with VBN 6. Higher net return of Rs 25,500/ha and benefit-cost ratio of 2.75 was recorded in VBN 8 compared to the other varieties. Farmers were satisfied with VBN 8 due to its lower incidence of yellow mosaic virus and high yielding nature. Thus VBN 8 would be a better option to the farming community for enhancing the on-farm productivity of black gram in southern zone of Tamil Nadu.