NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR ORGANIC FINGER MILLET (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.)
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Date
2024-03-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University
Abstract
A FIeld experiment entitled “Nutrient management practices for organic finger
millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.)” was conducted during rabi, 2021-22 on sandy
loam soils of dryland farm of S. V. Agricultural College, Tirupati, Acharya N.G. Ranga
Agricultural University, Andhra Pradesh.
The experiment was laid out in a split-plot design and replicated thrice. The
treatments consisted of four organic manurial sources viz., M1: 100 % N through
farmyard manure, M2: 100 % N through poultry manure, M3: 100 % N through sheep
manure and M4: 100 % N through vermicompost, assigned to main plots, five foliar
sprays viz., F1: Control (water spray), F2: Waste decomposer, F3: Panchagavya @ 3 %
spray, F4: Jeevamrutha @ 10 % allotted to sub plots, applied at 20, 40 and 60 DAT. The
finger millet variety Tirumala was tested in the present experiment.
At all the stages of observation viz., 25, 50, 75 DAT and at harvest, significantly
the tallest plants, largest leaf area index, highest dry matter production, highest SPAD
readings and more number of tillers m-2 were recorded with application of 100 % N
through poultry manure (M2) followed by application of 100 % N through
vermicompost (M4), which was however comparable with 100 % N through farmyard
manure (M1). Application of 100 % N through sheep manure (M3) recorded the lowest
stature of growth parameters. At 25 DAT, plant height, leaf area index, dry matter
production, SPAD readings and number of tillers m-2 were comparable with each other
with respect to foliar sprays applied but at 50, 75 DAT and at harvest, significantly the
highest stature of growth parameters were noticed with application of waste
decomposer (F2) followed by application of jeevamrutha @ 10 % (F4), which was
however, comparable with panchagavya @ 3 % (F3). Significantly lower stature of
above growth parameters were observed with water spray (F1).
Regarding the yield attributes viz., significantly the higher number of ear heads
m-2
, fingers ear head-1
, ear length, ear weight and test weight were obtained with
application of 100 % N through poultry manure (M2) followed by application of 100 %
N through vermicompost (M4), which was in parity with 100 % N through farmyard
manure (M1), while the lowest values of above said yield attributes were obtained with
application of 100 % N through sheep manure (M3). Among the foliar sprays, higher
values of the above said yield attributes were obtained with application of waste
decomposer (F2), which was significantly superior over rest of the treatments. The next
Name of the author : G. V. S. S. RUPA SREE
Title of the thesis : NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR
ORGANIC FINGER MILLET (Eleusine coracana
(L.) Gaertn.)
Degree to which thesis is
submitted
: MASTER OF SCIENCE
Faculty : AGRICULTURE
Department : AGRONOMY
Chairperson : Dr. Y. REDDI RAMU
University : ACHARYA N.G. RANGA AGRICULTURAL
UNIVERSITY
Year of submission : 2022
xvii
best treatments were application of jeevamrutha @ 10 % (F4) and panchagavya @ 3 %
(F3), which were on par with each other. The deflated stature of yield attributes were
recorded with water spray (F1).
Significantly the higher grain and straw yield and protein content were recorded with
application of 100 % N through poultry manure (M2). Application of 100 % N through
vermicompost (M4) and 100 % N through farmyard manure (M1) were comparable with
each other. The lowest grain and straw yield and protein content were recorded with
application of 100 % N through sheep manure (M3). Among the foliar sprays, higher
yields were noticed with spraying of waste decomposer (F2), which was significantly
superior over rest of the treatments. The grain and straw yields recorded with
application of jeevamrutha @ 10 % (F4) and panchagavya @ 3 % (F3) were on par with
each other. The lowest grain and straw yield as well as protein content were noticed
with application of water spray (F1).
Among the organic manure treatments, application of 100 % N through poultry
manure (M2) recorded significantly the higher nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium
uptake by plant at all the stages of crop growth. Significantly lower values were
recorded with application of 100 % N through sheep manure (M3). With regard to the
foliar sprays, significantly the highest uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were
registered with spraying of waste decomposer (F2) followed by jeevamrutha @ 10 %
(F4), which was on par with panchagavya @ 3 % (F3), while it was lowest with water
spray (F1).
Significantly the higher post-harvest status of soil available nitrogen, phosphorus and
potassium were recorded with application of 100 % N through sheep manure (M3).
Significantly the lowest post-harvest soil available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium
were recorded with application of 100 % N through poultry manure (M2).
The higher post-harvest soil microbial population i.e., total count of bacteria,
fungi and actinomycetes were noticed with application of 100 % N through
vermicompost (M4), which was however comparable with application of 100 % N
through poultry manure (M2). The lower soil microbial population were observed with
application of 100 % N through sheep manure (M3). Among the foliar sprays,
application of waste decomposer (F2) recorded significantly higher microbial population
followed by application of jeevamrutha @ 10 % (F4), which was however comparable
with panchagavya @ 3 % (F3). The lowest microbial population count was noticed
under water spray (F1).
Application of 100 % N through poultry manure (M2) recorded significantly the
highest gross and net returns and benefit-cost ratio over the rest of the manurial treatments.
The lowest gross returns were observed with 100 % N through sheep manure (M3),
whereas the net returns and benefit-cost ratio were lowest for 100 % N through
vermicompost (M4). Among the foliar sprays, application of waste decomposer (F2)
recorded significantly the higher gross and net returns and benefit-cost ratio. The lower net
returns and benefit-cost ratio were noticed with water spray (F1).
From the present study, it can be concluded that application of 100 % N through
poultry manure along with foliar application of waste decomposer (500 l ha-1
) at 20, 40
and 60 DAT, proved to be a promising strategy for realizing higher grain yield, protein
content and economic returns as well as improved soil health in finger millet in sandy loam
soils during rabi in Southern Agro-Climatic Zone of Andhra Pradesh under organic
nutrient management.