Effect of Seedlings Age and Nutrient Combinations on Growth and Yield of Proso Millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) in Lateritic Soils of Western Ghats

Abstract

Background: Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) was considered a self-pollinated annual crop that belongs to the family Poaceae. It was well adapted to many soil and climatic conditions. The productivity was low due to the use of poor quality seed, little or no use of fertilizers, traditional methods of cultivation, delay in nursery sowing and late transplanting. The Integrated Nutrient Supply System (INSS) approach involves the combined use of chemical fertilizers, organic manures and micronutrient fertilizers, which ensures higher crop productions and also helps to restore and sustain soil fertility. Therefore, the study was focused to manage the timely transplanting together with the suitable nutrient combination.Methods: A field experiment was conducted to study the “Effect of seedlings age and different nutrient combinations on growth and yield of Proso Millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) in lateritic soils of Western Ghats” during Kharif, 2016. The experiment was laid out in a split-plot design with four main plots and five subplot treatments. The main plot treatments composed of four ages of seedlings viz. 20, 30, 40 and 50 days. and five subplot treatments of nutrient combinations viz., 100% RDF, 75% RDF + 25% N through FYM, 50% RDF + 50% N through FYM, 25% RDF + 75% N through FYM and 100% N through FYM. Thus, there were twenty treatment combinations, replicated thrice.Result: Results revealed that the proso millet crop transplanted with 30 days old seedlings recorded significantly higher grain yield and straw yield over all other treatments. In nutrient combinations treatments, 100% RDF through chemical fertilizer recorded significantly higher mean plant height hill-1, number of functional leaves hill-1, number of functional tillers hill-1 and plant dry matter accumulation hill-1 than the other treatments and also produced significantly highest yields and yield attributing characters compared to the rest of the nutrient combinations.