Nutrient standardization of finger millet in coconut garden

Abstract

The study titled “Nutrient standardization of finger millet in coconut garden” was conducted during the period 2019-21, at CoA, Vellayani. The main objective was to identify a suitable finger millet variety as an intercrop in coconut and also to standardize its nutrient requirement. The field experiment was conducted at Coconut Research Station, Balaramapuram, during the period from December 2020 to April 2021. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications. The treatments consisted of four varieties of finger millet (v1- CO 15, v2- Paiyur 2, v3- TRY 1 and v4- OEB 526) and four levels of NPK dose (d1- 34: 17: 17 NPK kg ha-1 , d2- 45: 22.5: 22.5 NPK kg ha-1 , d3- 56: 28: 28 NPK kg ha-1 and d4- 67 : 33.75 : 33.75 NPK kg ha-1 ). Lime @ 250 kg ha-1 was applied uniformly to all treatments. Method of sowing adopted was transplanting. Seedlings were transplanted to the main field three weeks after sowing, with a spacing of 25 cm x 15 cm. All other management practices were followed as per the Package of Practices Recommendations of Kerala Agricultural University (KAU, 2016). Among the varieties, v3 recorded the tallest plants at all stages of observation, whereas the highest number of tillers m-2 were observed in v4 at 30 DAT, 60 DAT and harvest. The variety v4 also recorded the highest dry matter production (5272 kg ha-1 ). Leaf area index was observed to be the highest for the variety v4 and it was comparable with v2 at 30 DAT and 60 DAT. Yield attributes, viz., number of productive tillers m-2 (74.17), number of fingers per ear head (10.52), grain yield (2358 kg ha-1 ), straw yield (4001 kg ha-1 ) and harvest index (0.370) were found significantly the highest in v4. However, the longest fingers (5.76 cm) and ear heads (8.83 cm) were observed in v1 and were comparable with v2 (5.64 cm and 8.41 cm). The highest crude protein content was expressed in v1 (8.69%), which remained on par with v4 (8.43%). Starch and iron content were significantly the highest in v1 whereas significantly the highest calcium content was observed in v4. The highest uptake of N, P and K were also recorded in v4. 79 Among the NPK doses, d3 resulted in the tallest plants and the highest number of tillers m-2 at all stages of observation. The leaf area index in d3 was comparable with d4, and the highest dry matter production was registered in d3 at harvest. The highest number of productive tillers m-2 (71.17), finger length (5.74 cm), number of fingers per ear head (8.15) and grain yield (2129 kg ha-1 ) were observed in d3 and remained on par with d4. The highest crude protein content was registered with d4 (8.90%) and was statistically on par with d3 (8.63%), whereas d3 recorded the highest calcium content (0.34%) and was comparable with d4 (0.33%). The highest uptake of N and P were reported in d3, while the highest K uptake was observed in d4. The variety v4 exhibited 15, 25 and 52 per cent increase in grain yield over the varieties v1, v2 and v3 respectively, and application of d3 resulted in 4, 10 and 21 per cent increase in grain yield over d4, d2 and d1 respectively. The treatment combination v4d3 fetched the highest net returns of ₹ 55059 ha-1 with a BCR of 2.09. Based on the study, it can be concluded that the finger millet variety OEB 526, managed with 56: 28: 28 kg NPK ha -1 can be recommended for cultivation as an intercrop in coconut garden, for higher yield and economics.