Productivity of Barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea) in relation to organic nutrition under rainfed conditions of Western Himalaya region

摘要

To find out the efficacy of different organic materials as source of nutrients to barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea), an experiment was laid out with 12 treatments consisting of different organic manures in a randomized block design with 3 replications during kharif 2005-2008 at Ranichauri. The results indicated that various organic nutrition treatments have significantly lower productivity of barnyard millet than recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF i.e. 40-20-20 kg N-P-K/ha) in the initial 2 years (2005 and 2006). However, from third year onwards, organic nutrition treatments of vermicompost (VC) + wild apricot-cake, WAC (50% N from each source) with and without Azotobacter produced statistically at par yield as that of RDF. Among the organic nutrition treatments tried, VC + WAC (50% N from each source) + Azotobacter on an average produced statistically similar yields (1.78 tonne/ha) as that of RDF (1.92 tonne/ha). The net returns and benefit to cost ratio were highest with RDF followed by VC + WAC (50% N from each source) + Azotobacter. Consequently that locally available WAC with VC can be a cheaper alternative to the inorganic fertilizers that can be used without significant losses in yields of barnyard millet.