PLANT DENSITY AND ORGANIC NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT OF FINGER MILLET (Eleusine coracana L.) AND ITS RESIDUAL EFFECT ON SUCCEEDING GREEN PEA (Pisum sativum)
Loading...
Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi
Abstract
Finger millet, commonly known as Ragi, is grown extensively in various regions of India. It is used as staple food that supplies a major portion of calories and protein for people of low income group. It performs poor yield in uplands which are less fertile and also it suffers because of poor plant stand in direct sowing conditions. In recent decades, emphasis has been shifted from single crop in one season only to more than one crops in sequence because response of succeeding crop is influenced by the nutrient application to preceding crop as carry over benefit. Deleterious effect of chemical fertilizers in agriculture has led to adopt organic crop production as an alternative method which also maintains soil health and improves overall ecological balance of the production system. Thus, adopting combination of proper plant population and organic nutrient management can lead in better grain production. Information on seed rate in finger millet under organic nutrient management and its residual effect on second crop in sequence is very meager. Keeping above points in mind, an investigation entitled “Plant density and organic nutrient management of finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) and its residual effect on succeeding green pea (Pisum sativum L.)” was carried out at Agronomy Research Farm, Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke during Kharif and Rabi season of 2017-18 and 2018-19. The soil was sandy loam in texture, acidic with pH 5.8, low in available N (250 kg/ha), medium in P (17.9 kg/ha), medium in K (105.1 kg/ha), low in organic carbon (0.37%), initial population (CFU/ g of soil) of bacteria 13.2 * 106, fungi 22 * 104 and Actinomycetes 6 * 106. Recommended seed rate was @ 8 kg/ha in finger millet and 100 kg/ha in green pea. In both the years, a general application of lime @ 4 q/ha was used in kharif season. Recommended dose of nutrients in finger millet was @ 40:30:20 and in green pea @ 40:80:40 NPK kg/ha, respectively. Field experiment was carried out with two factors: A- seed rate 100%; 125% and 150% and Factor B-
Nitrogen- control; 100% N through FYM; 100% N through vermicompost; 75% N through FYM + 25% N through vermicompost; 50% N through FYM + 50% N through vermicompost and 25% N through FYM + 75% N through vermicompost. In Kharif season, finger millet (var. BBM-10) was cultivated with spacing of 30 * 10 cm and there after in Rabi, green pea (var. PM-113) was grown with spacing 30 * 10 cm. A common dose of 50% N through vermicompost was applied uniformly in green pea to express residual fertility of each treatment applied during Kharif season. The experiment was carried out with total 18 treatment combinations in RBD with three replications.
Results revealed that growth parameters, yield attributes, yield and economics of finger millet were significantly influenced by different treatments of seed rate and organic nutrient management. In finger millet, plant height (72.6 cm) at 90 DAS, LAI (2.69) at 90 DAS and dry matter accumulation per m2 (884.7 g) at harvest were maximum with plant density and organic nutrient combination @ 125% seed rate with 50% N through FYM + 50% N through vermicompost. Yield attributes namely, effective tillers per m2 (61.11), number of fingers per ear (6.61), ear weight (7.12 g), 1000 grain weight (3.46 g), number of grains per ear (2587), grain yield (25.1 q/ha) and straw yield (44.9 q/ha) of finger millet were recorded maximum. Also, total N, P & K uptake of finger millet was maximum as N (36.57 kg/ha), P (16.49 kg/ha) and K (61.52 kg/ha) and quality parameters namely, Iron (4.89 mg/100g of grain) and Calcium (351.6 mg/100g of grain) but being at par with 125% seed rate + 25% N through FYM + 75% N through vermicompost. Succeeding green pea produced maximum green pod yield (94.4 q/ha), green fodder yield (60.52 q/ha) and yield attributing characters namely, pods per plant (32.57), seeds per pod (7.81), pod fresh weight (10.01 g), pod length (9 cm) and weight of 100 dry seed (21.0 g) in residual fertility plot of Kharif treatment combination @ 125% seed rate with 50% N through FYM + 50% N through vermicompost.
In system analysis of finger millet – green pea, treatment combination @ 125% seed rate with 50% N through FYM + 50% N through vermicompost applied in kharif finger millet recorded highest finger millet equivalent yield of green pod (73.1 q/ha), finger millet equivalent yield of cropping system (98.2 q/ha), system gross return (Rs. 1,22,755), system net return (Rs. 63,343) and net return system B:C ratio (1.07) being at par with treatment combination @ 125% seed rate with 25 % N through FYM + 75 % N through vermicompost. Available nutrient in the soil i.e., nitrogen (261.3 kg/ha), phosphorous (19 kg/ha) and potassium (120.5 kg/ha) were recorded after harvest of both the crops. pH and organic carbon were recorded as 6.2 and 0.42%. Biological properties of soil was also enhanced by increase in population of bacteria up to (16.1 x 106), fungi (36.3 x 104) and Actinomycetes (9.6 x 106) CFU/g of soil being at par with treatment combination @ 125% seed rate with 25 % N through FYM + 75 % N through vermicompost.
On the basis of above results, it maybe concluded that plant density @ 125% seed rate (10 kg/ha) in finger millet in direct sowing along with organic nutrient application @ 50% N through FYM (10 t/ha) + 50% N through vermicompost (2 t/ha) or second option @ 25 % N through FYM (1 t/ha) + 75% N through vermicompost (3 t/ha) in kharif and then green pea in rabi with 50% N through vermicompost (2 t/ha) should be practiced for higher profitability and productivity under finger millet – green pea organic cropping sequence in upland condition.
Description
PLANT DENSITY AND ORGANIC NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT OF FINGER MILLET (Eleusine coracana L.) AND ITS RESIDUAL EFFECT ON SUCCEEDING GREEN PEA (Pisum sativum)