EFFECT OF CULTIVARS AND PLANT GEOMETRY ON DRY FODDER PRODUCTION OF BARLEY UNDER VARIOUS MOISTURE REGIMES ON RAISED BED PLANTING
NAVEEN KUMAR, SURESH KUMAR* AND R. K. ARYA
Department of Agronomy,
CCS Haryana Agricultural University,
Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India
*(E-mail : sureshsella@gmail.com)
(Received: 29 December, 2012, Accepted: 15 April, 2013)
SUMMARY
A field experiment was conducted during rabi 2011-12 at research farm, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana (India) in a semi-arid climate to study the effect of cultivars, row spacing and moisture regimes on dry fodder production and its contributing traits in barley planted on raised beds. The treatments consisting of combination of three cultivars viz., BH 393, BH 902 and BH 885 and two rows spacing viz., 2 rows per bed and 3 rows per bed in main plots and three moisture regimes (irrigation at IW/ CPE 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5) in sub plots. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications. The results revealed that the plant height, number of tillers per meter square, leaf area index and dry fodder yield was recorded maximum with BH 902 cultivar. Plant height of barley was not affected significantly by row spacing, but number of tillers per meter square, and leaf area index was recorded significantly higher in 3 rows per bed. Dry fodder yield was also recorded higher in 3 rows per bed. Among three moisture regimes, plant height, number of tillers per meter square, leaf area index and dry fodder yield were recorded maximum with irrigation at IW/CPE 0.5. Among interaction between cultivars and row spacing, BH 902 cultivars when planted in 3 rows per bed produced maximum dry fodder yield than other combinations.
Key words: dry fodder production, bed planting, row spacing, moisture regime, barley cultivars