Forage Res., 36 (3) : pp.

185-187 (2010)

EFFECT OF INTEGRATED NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT ON PRODUCTIVITY OF FORAGE PEARL MILLET (PENNISETUM GLAUCUM L.)
S. L. GOLADA, B. J. PATEL, P. SINGH1 AND L. R. BULDAK1
Department of Agronomy S. D. Agricultural University, Sardar Krushinagar (Gujarat), India

Pennisetum glaucum (L.) is a dual purpose crop. The cultivation of pearl millet for forage purpose has recently been emphasized due to its profuse tillering, multi cut nature, absence of prussic acid and good performance even on poor soils. The production potential depends on physiological growth stage and cutting at optimum stage during the growing season. Multi cut nature of the crop ensures the forage supply over a long period of time, reduced cost of cultivation and many other benefits. The projected demand for green and dry fodder for the year 2010 is estimated at about 1050 and 1250 M.T., respectively. The available forage supply accounts for only 46.6 per cent of the total demand and annual deficit of concentrate is about 44.0 per cent, whereas for green forage and dry roughage is about 36 per cent. At present, only 3.7 per cent of countrys total cultivated land is used for forage production (Chhabra and Dinh, 2002). The role of farm yard manure (FYM) is well recognized and considered as balanced bulky organic manure which supplies macro and micronutrients essential to the plant. Nitrogen is an essential major nutrient for plant growth, which is closely associated with vegetative growth and development of plants; it plays an important role in plant metabolism of virtue of being an essential constituent of structural component of the cell wall and many metabolically active compounds. It is also a constituent of chlorophyll, which is important for harvest of solar energy. The beneficial effect of these biofertilizers on plant is associated not only with the process of nitrogen fixation and improved nutrition of plants, but also with synthesis of complex biologically active compounds such as pyridoxine, biotin, gibberellin and other compounds which stimulate the germination of pearl millet seeds and accelerate plant growth under favourable environmental conditions. Hence, the present investigation was undertaken to study the effect of integrated nutrient management on yield and yield attributing characters of forage pearl millet
1

(Agrawal et al., 2005). A field experiment was conducted at Agronomy Instructional Farm, C. P. College of Agriculture, S. D. Agricultural University, Sardar Krushinagar, Gujarat during kharif season of 2007. The soil of the experimental field was loamy sand in texture, low in organic carbon (0.33%) and available nitrogen (172 kg/ ha), medium in available phosphorus (43 kg/ha) and available potassium (250 kg/ha) with slightly alkaline reaction (pH 7.4). The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design with four replications. Treatments comprised two levels of FYM (0 and 10 t/ ha), three levels of N (80, 100 and 120 kg/ha) and two levels of biofertilizer (without and with inoculation Azospirillum brasillense) thus making 12 treatments. Forage pearl millet var. AFB-2 was sown on 11 July 2007 with recommended seed rate of 12 kg/ha and row spacing of 30 cm. The first cut was taken at 50 DAS at 50 per cent flowering and the second cut at 30 days after first cut. Perusal of data presented in Table 1 reveals that application of FYM 10 t/ha significantly enhanced the plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf : stem ratio, leaf width and leaf length in both the cuts over control. This reflected in marked effect on increasing total green forage (476.64 q/ha) as well as dry matter yield (90.23 q/ha) with an increase of 7.20 and 7.26 per cent over control, respectively. The increases in these attributes might have been on account of the overall improvement in vegetative growth of the plant due to application of FYM which increased green forage and dry matter yield. FYM improves the physical condition of the soil including water holding capacity and adds N, P, K and micronutrients to the soil bedsides serving as a store house for plant nutrients. Thus, it provides a favourable environment to increase the green and dry matter yields. These results are in close conformity with those of Kumar and Sharma (2002) in fodder sorghum.

Rajasthan College of Agriculture, M. P. University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur (Rajasthan), India.

186

TABLE 1 Effect of FYM, nitrogen and biofertilizer inoculation on growth, yield attributes and yield of forage pearl millet No. of leaves/ plant 1st cut 2nd cut 1st cut 2nd cut 1st cut 2nd cut 1st cut 2nd cut 1st cut 2nd cut 1st cut 2nd cut Total No. of tillers/ plant Leaf length (cm) Leaf width (cm) Leaf : stem ratio Green forage yield (q/ha) Dry matter yield (q/ha) 1st cut 2nd cut Total

Treatment

Plant height (cm) 2nd cut

1st cut

137.91 149.87 2.49 7.17 133.54 147.50 150.64 3.05 8.78 139.10 148.69 2.49 7.17 0.20 0.59 0.17 NS 0.11 0.32 0.15 NS 1.38 3.96 1.18 NS 9.94 9.74 10.64 10.41 6.16 6.59 8.16 8.54 66.87 67.77 71.38 70.98 2.61 2.79 0.05 0.15 2.80 2.94 0.05 NS 0.70 0.74 0.01 0.04 9.75 9.56 10.37 10.16 10.75 10.51 0.25 0.20 0.72 0.59 5.13 6.94 7.05 0.13 0.39 7.05 8.91 9.10 0.18 0.53 60.18 60.42 71.95 72.26 75.24 75.45 1.69 1.45 4.85 4.16 2.42 2.78 2.90 0.07 0.19 2.60 2.94 3.07 0.06 0.18 0.61 0.76 0.79 0.02 0.05 0.55 0.69 0.71 0.01 0.04 0.63 0.67 0.01 0.03

9.83 9.63 10.75 10.52 0.20 0.17 0.59 0.48

6.09 6.66 0.11 0.32

8.01 8.70 0.15 0.43

66.27 66.51 71.97 72.24 1.38 1.18 3.96 3.40

2.59 2.81 0.05 0.15

2.74 3.00 0.05 0.14

0.69 0.75 0.01 0.04

0.62 0.68 0.01 0.03

230.72 247.42 4.88 14.05

213.70 444.42 43.58 40.54 84.12 229.22 476.64 46.74 43.49 90.23 4.26 8.44 0.92 0.85 1.57 12.27 24.28 2.66 2.44 4.53 220.58 201.41 421.99 41.39 38.14 79.53 248.14 231.12 479.26 46.97 43.89 90.86 248.49 231.85 480.34 47.11 44.01 91.12 5.98 5.22 10.33 1.13 1.04 1.93 17.21 15.03 29.73 3.26 2.99 5.55 232.01 246.13 4.88 14.05 215.00 447.01 43.82 40.77 84.59 227.92 474.05 46.49 43.25 89.74 4.26 12.27 8.44 24.28 0.92 2.66 0.85 2.44 1.57 4.53

GOLADA, PATEL, SINGH AND BULDAK

FYM (t/ha) 0 151.54 10 164.24 S. Em 2.83 C. D. (P=0.05) 8.14 Nitrogen (kg/ha) 80 140.25 100 164.98 120 168.45 S. Em 3.47 C. D. (P=0.05) 9.97 Biofertilizer inoculation Without inoculation 152.94 With inoculation 162.85 (Azospirillum brasilense) S. Em 2.83 C. D. (P=0.05) 8.14

NSNot Significant.

INM IN FORAGE PEARL MILLET

187

The increasing level of nitrogen upto 120 kg/ha significantly increased the growth, yield attributes and yields in both the cuts but it was at par with 100 kg/ha nitrogen. The further increase in dose of nitrogen could not bring any significant improvement. The increase in total green forage yield and dry matter yield with 100 kg N/ha was 13.57 and 14.24 (Table 1) per cent, respectively, compared to 80 kg N/ha. The probable reason for such a positive effect of nitrogen application might to be the poor inherent nitrogen status of the experimental field and response behaviours of the forage pearl millet to nitrogen application, which with applied nitrogen tended to put more vegetative growth, better root development and efficient photosynthesis and finally produced more forage yield, moreover, this was evidently due to the cumulative effect of increasing trend observed in major yield attributing characters viz., plant height and number of leaves per plant. The findings are in close conformity with those of Tiwana and Puri (2005). The data presented in Table 1 show that inoculation of pearl millet seed with biofertilizer (Azospirillum brasilense) significantly increased the

growth, yield attributes and yield over without inoculation. The increase in total green forage and dry matter yield was 6.04 and 6.08 per cent, respectively, over without inoculation. The increased yield probably resulted from stimulation in germination and thereby increase in plant biomass with the nitrogen fixed by the biofertilizer (Azospirillum brasilense). This is also due to the fact that biofertilizer (Azospirillum brasilense) is known to increase availability and solubility of nutrients. This might have helped in producing more growth promoting substances like gibberellins, indole acetic acid and kinetin that enhanced the growth parameters of plant (Agrawal et al., 2005). REFERENCES
Agrawal, S. B., V. K. Shukla, H. P. S. Sisodia, R. Tomar, and A. Shrivastva, 2005 : Forage Res., 31 : 106-108. Chhabra, A., and K. V. Dinh, 2002 : Indian Dairyman, 54 : 38-43. Kumar, S., and B. L. Sharma, 2002 : Forage Res., 28 : 165168. Tiwana, V. J., and K. P. Puri, 2005 : Forage Res., 31 : 142-143.