Influence of agronomic interventions on growth and productivity of finger millet Eleusine coracana L Gaertn under kandi belt of Jammu region

Abstract

newline A field study entitled Influence of agronomic interventions on growth and productivity of finger millet (EleusinecoracanaL. Gaertn.)underkandi belt of Jammu region was conducted during kharif2023 and 2024at Advance Centre for Rainfed Agriculture, Dhiansar, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu.It consists of two experiments,Experiment.-I entitled as Effect of sowing dates and nutrient levels on finger millet varieties and Experiment-II entitled as Effect of spacing and weed management practices on finger millet varieties .The first experiment comprised of three factors viz., three sowing dates (20th June, 30th June and 10th July), two varieties (VL Mandua 379 and VL Mandua 382) and four nutrient levels (0, 20:10:10, 40:20:20, 60:30:30kg of N, P2O5 and K2O)and second experiment comprised of three factors viz., two spacing (30 cm × 10 cm and 20 cm × 5 cm), two varieties (VL Mandua 379 and VL Mandua 382) and five weed management practices (weedy check, weed free, oxyflourfen at 80 g ha-1, bispyribac sodium at 20 g ha-1 and oxyflourfen at 80 g ha-1followed by bispyribac sodium at 20 g ha-1). All the treatments were randomly allocated in three replications in a Factorial Randomized Block Designon sandy loam soils with neutral pH, low organic carbon, available nitrogen and available potassium but medium in available phosphorus with electrical conductivity insafe range. newline InExperiment I,all the parameters investigated viz., different sowing dates, varieties and nutrient levels followed the similar statistical and numerical trends during both the years of experimentation. Among sowing dates, sowing of finger millet on 30th June, recorded significantly higher growth parameters, yield attributes and yield, quality parameters, nutrient uptake parameters, gross returns(and#8377; ha-1), net returns(and#8377; ha-1) and B:C ratio. Variety, VL Mandua379 outperformed VL Manuda 382 and recorded significantly higher values for growth parameters, yield attributes except panicle length.Among nutri