Potential for agronomical enhancement of millet yield via <em>Jatropha curcas</em> oilcake fertilizer amendment using placed application technique

Abstract

This study carried out at the ICRISAT research station of Sadoré in Niger aimed at determining the impact of placed application technique of Jatropha oilcake on millet agronomic parameters. The experimental design was a randomised blocs including five treatments and four replicates. Control was plots without fertilizer while J_100 g, J_200 g, and J_300 gwere plots receiving 100 g , 200 g and 300 g of Jatropha oilcake respectively per seed hole and the plots NPK_6 g were receiving 6 g of NPK (15, 15, 15) per seed hole. ANOVA test was used for data analyses. Only the Control had significantly low number of tillers. At the end of the vegetative period J_300 g has the highest plants. J_300 g induced 196% increase of grain yield compared to the Control. The substitution of NPK (15,15,15) by 100 g, 200 g and 300 g of Jatropha oilcake per seed hole induced 79 - 52.93%, 92 – 72.23% and 152 – 100.65% increase of grain yield respectively compared to the Control in 2009 and 2010. With regard to the grain yield in 2009 and 2010, 100 g of Jatropha cake per seed hole can replace the current 6 g (NPK) per seed hole.Keywords: Jatropha oilcake, NPK (15, 15, 15), millet (H.K.P), placed application, fertilizer, Sadoré –Niger