Organic nutrient management of finger millet and foxtail millet in black and red soils of northern transition zone of Karnataka

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2021 at MARS, UAS, Dharwad to study the organic nutrient management of finger millet and foxtail millet in black and red soils of Northern Transition Zone of Karnataka. Theexperiment was laid out in a split-plot design with two main plots and nine subplots with three replications. Among the twomillets, finger millet recorded significantly higher grain yield (1943 and 1900 kg ha-1), gross returns (`56329 and `55021 ha-1), netreturns (`24240 and `22931 ha-1) and B:C ratio (l .76 and 1 .73), respectively in black and red soils compared to foxtailmillet (grain yield- 1135 and 1034 kg ha-1, gross returns- `37466 and `34092 ha-1, Net returns- `9147 and `5773 ha-1 and B:C ratio1.33 and 1.22, respectively in black and red soils). Among the nutrient management practices, application of RDFrecorded significantly higher grain yield (1895 and 1829 kg ha-1), straw yield (3517 and 3415 kg ha-1), gross returns (`56715and `55575 ha-1), net returns (`32185 and `31045 ha-1) and B:C ratio (2.30 and 2.25), respectively in black and red soils. Among the organic source of nutrients, application of 50% N through compost + 50% N through vermicompost recorded significantly higher grain yield (1813 kg ha-1), straw yield (3330 kg ha-1) and gross returns (`55362 ha-1). However,application of 100% N through goat manure recorded significantly higher net returns (`22609 ha-1) and B:C ratio (1.79) inblack soil. Whereas, in case of red soil, among the organic source of nutrients, application of 50% N through compost + 50%N through goat manure recorded significantly higher grain yield (1681 kgha-1), straw yield (2991 kg ha-1), gross returns(`50592 ha-1) and net returns (`19615 ha-1). Whereas, B:C ratio (l .67) was significantly higher under the application of100% N through goat manure over rest of the treatments. Hence, in Northern Transition Zone of Karnataka the applicationof split doses of organic manures to both finger millet and foxtail millet in black and red soils is found to be promising interms of productivity and economics.