Effect of Moisture Conservation Practices on Nutrient Concentration, Uptake and Quality of Pearlmillet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br. emend Stuntz] Hybrids

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted under loamy sand soil during two consecutive kharif seasons of 2018and 2019 at Agronomy farm, S.K.N. College of Agriculture, Jobner, Jaipur to find out the best moistureconservation practices on nutrient concentration, uptake and quality of pearl millet[Pennisetum glaucum(L.) R. Br. emend Stuntz] hybrids. Hybrids viz., RHB-173, RHB-177, MPMH-17 and HHB-67 in main plotsand moisture conservation practices viz., control, dust mulch, straw mulch, plastic mulch and seed linemulching of FYM in sub plots were tested using split plot design replicated four. Results showed thatnitrogen, phosphorus and potassium concentration in grain and stover and protein content did not differsignificantly due to pearlmillet hybrids but hybrid RHB-173 recorded significantly higher total nitrogen,phosphorus and potassium uptake as compared to MPMH-17 and HHB-67, remained at par with RHB-177during both the years of study and in pool analysis. Results further indicated that application of strawmulch recorded significantly higher nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium concentration in grain and stover,total uptake and protein content over control, dust mulch and seed line mulching of FYM and statisticallyat par with plastic mulch during both the years of experimentation.