INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT NITROGEN LEVELS ON GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF FORAGE PEARL MILLET (PENNISETUMGLAUCUM L.) GENOTYPES
MANINDER KAUR* AND MEENAKSHI GOYAL
Forage and Millet Section,
Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics
Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141003, Punjab, India
*(e-mail : maninder.sindhu@yahoo.com)
(Received : 26 March 2019 ; Accepted : 9 May 2019)
SUMMARY
A field experiment was conducted at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana during kharif season of 2018 to study the effect of different nitrogen levels on growth, yield and quality of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) genotypes. The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design with four pearl millet genotypes (TSFB-15-8, TSFB-15-4, Giant Bajra and AFB-3) and four nitrogen levels (0, 30, 60 and 90 kg N/ha) with three replications. The results revealed that among the genotypes, AFB-3 (Zonal check) proved significantly superior over the remaining genotypes for green fodder (765.1 q/ha) as well as in dry matter (119.0 q/ha) yield. It also recorded tallest plants (281.8 cm) and maximum number of tillers per m2 (52.8). However, the genotype TSFB-15-8 recorded significantly lowest green fodder and dry matter yield but was found superior among the tested genotypes for quality aspect and had significantly highest crude protein content (8.3%). But, due to lowest dry matter yield, it fared poorly with regard to crude protein yield. The increasing levels of nitrogen from 0 to 90 kg/ha significantly increased the green fodder and dry matter yield over their lower levels. The application of 90 kg N/ha recorded an increase of 59.5, 22.4 and 7.4 per cent in green fodder and 23.4, 15.5 and 4.6 per cent in dry matter over 0, 30 and 60 kg N/ha, respectively.
Key words: Pearl millet, genotypes, fodder yield, nitrogen, crude protein