Effect of pulse sprout spray as a foliar nutrition to enhance seed yield and quality in barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea l.)

Abstract

Millets are rich in valuable nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, dietary fibre, minerals and vitamins. The uninterrupted and disproportionate use of chemical fertilizers over a longer period has resulted in deterioration of soil health and reduced yield. Foliar spray is a very easy way to supply valuable nutrients to plants. With this background, an experiment was conducted to see the effect of pulse sprout extract spray as a foliar spray on the seed crop Barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea L.). The seed crop given foliar treatment with 2% horse gram pulse sprout extract spray recorded higher growth attributes namely plant height (172.8 cm), total chlorophyll content (1.560 mg/g) and yield attributes viz., seed yield per plant (26.5 g), seed yield per plot (2.54 kg), seed yield per hectare (2506 kg), 1000 seed weight (3.28 g), quality parameters viz., germination (89%), vigour index (2461) and biochemical parameters of resultant seeds in both kharif and rabi seasons. The crop given with foliar nutrition of 2% horse gram sprout extract spray showed a low number of days to flower initiation (45 days) and 50% flowering (54 days) when compared to control followed by 2% cowpea sprout extract. Hence it was hypothesized that application of the nutrient extract from the sprouted pulses in the form of foliar spray would enable better crop growth and productivity of Barnyard millet.