MSc

An experiment entitled ‘Integrated nutrient management of finger millet
(Eleusine corocana L.) in red sandy loam soil’ was conducted at Instructional Farm Ⅱ,
Karuvacheri during rabi season (2021-22) with the objective of standardisation of
integrated nutrient management practices for finger millet in red sandy loam soils. The
design of experiment was factorial Randomized Block Design (RBD) with ten treatments
replicated thrice. Factor A consisted of two levels of farmyard manure (FYM) applied @
5 t ha-1
(A1) and 10 t ha-1
(A2). Factor B consisted of five different levels of nutrients i.e.,
B1- KAU POP (NPK @ 45:22.5:22.5 kg ha-1
), B2- NPK @ 60:30:30 kg ha-1
, B3- NPK @
75:37.5:37.5 kg ha-1
, B4- Soil test based fertilizer recommendation (SBFR) applied
@ 41:6:19 kg ha-1 NPK and B5- Control (No NPK).
Statistical analysis of the results revealed that the treatments had significant
effect on growth parameters, yield attributes and yield, quality parameters, available soil
nutrients and nutrient uptake. Among the different nutrient levels, significantly higher
values of growth parameters such as plant height (30.57, 75.60 and 96.29 cm), number
of tillers hill-1
(2.39, 4.84 and 5.47) and leaf area hill-1
(303.81, 754.04 and 1503.56 cm2
)
at 25, 50 and 75 DAS respectively were recorded by the highest NPK level of
75:37.5:37.5 kg ha-1
(B3). Interaction effect was also found to be significant with respect
to the above parameters with the application of higher dose of FYM @ 10 t ha-1 + NPK
@ 75:37.5:37.5 kg ha-1
(A2B3) followed by the FYM @ 10 t ha-1 + NPK applied
@ 60:30:30 kg ha-1
(A2B2) except for dry matter production (DMP) where these
treatments were on par.
Higher values with respect to number of fingers panicle-1
(7.06), grain weight panicle-1
(6.30 g) and panicle length (10.35 cm) were recorded with NPK applied at 75:37.5:37.5
kg ha-1
(B3). Application of different nutrient levels resulted in significant difference with
respect to grain and straw yield. Grain yield (2.1 t ha-1
) was significantly higher with NPK
applied @ 75:37.5:37.5 kg ha-1 which was on par with the application of SBFR + NPK
applied @ 60:30:30 kg ha-1
(1.98 and 2.01 t ha-1
respectively). Significantly higher straw
yield (4.0 t ha-1
) was recorded with the high dose of NPK @ 75:37.5:37.5 kg ha-1
and in
case of interaction effect, the higher straw yield was noticed in A2B3 (4.0 t ha-1
) which
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was on par with A1B4 (3.99 t ha-1
), A1B3 (3.99 t ha-1
) and A2B2 (3.96 t ha-1
). Among the
quality parameters, higher value or protein content was recorded with the application of
higher levels of nutrients at 75:37.5:37.5 kg ha-1
and the lowest value was observed in the
control plot. Ash content was significantly high with SBFR which was on par with NPK
applied @ 75:37.5:37.5 kg ha-1
. Interaction of higher dose of FYM along with highest
nutrient dose hasresulted in higher protein content (9.48 %) which was on par with A2B2
(FYM @ 10 t ha-1 + NPK @ 60:30:30 kg ha-1
) i.e., 9.23%.
Among the different nutrient levels, highest value of organic carbon (0.71%)
and available NPK (303, 84 and 289 kg ha-1
respectively) was recorded with B3 treatment.
High valuesfor available N and P was recorded with higher dose of FYM (10 t ha-1
) also.
Higher values of nitrogen uptake (60 kg ha-1
) was recorded with NPK applied
@ 75:37.5:37.5 kg ha-1
(B3). Higher values of relative growth rate, crop growth rate and
leaf area index were recorded with the higher dose of nutrient levels (B3) and also with
integrated use of higher levels of both FYM and NPK (A2B3) during different growth
stages. The highest value for grain yield and B : C ratio (2.02) was recorded with the
application of FYM @ 5 t ha-1
along with fertilizers applied @ 41:6:19 kg NPK ha-1
.
The results obtained from the experiment revealed that different levels of FYM,
nutrients and their interaction could influence the growth, yield attributes, OC and
available nutrients in finger millet. The effect was reflected in grain yield and B: C ratio.
Soil test based fertilizer application has reduced the fertilizer use by 8.88%, 73.34%,
15.55% (Urea, Rock phosphate and MOP) respectively over the KAU POP
recommendation. The results can be used as a guide for developing soil test based
integrated nutrient management practice under differentsoil conditions.