COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE OF HYBRIDS AND POPULATIONS UNDER DIFFERENT MANAGEMENT CONDITION FOR SUSTAINABLE PEARL MILLET PRODUCTION
ANIL KUMAR
Bajra Section, Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding
CCS Haryana Agricultural University,
Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India
*(e-mail : anilbajra2009@gmail.com)
(Received : 5 October 2016; Accepted : 8 December 2016
SUMMARY
The experiment was conducted at the research farm of Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar from 2007 to 2010. The experiment consisted of eight treatments viz., two management levels i. e. Farmers practices [No application of DAP, sub-optimal use of N @ 25-30 kg/ha, no gap filling and thinning and hardly one interculture operation] and recommended package of practices under rainfed situation [Nitrogen @ 40 kg/ha and P2O5 @ 20 kg/ha, gap filling and thinning (three weeks after sowing) and one interculture operation] along with four cultivars i. e. two hybrids (RHB 121 and GHB 558) and two populations (Pusa 383 and Raj 171). The adoption of recommended practices enhanced the productivity by 23.5 and 18.5 per cent in hybrids and populations, respectively, as compared to farmer’s practices. Among hybrids and populations; the hybrid GHB 558 (30.58 q/ha) produced significantly higher grain yield than RHB 121 hybrid (27.10 q/ha), populations Raj 171 (26.91 q/ha) and Pusa 383 (26.64 q/ha). Sustainable yield index (SYI) was quite higher in recommended package & practices (0.61) than the farmer’s practices (0.33). The SYI was comparable in the population Raj 171 (0.66), hybrid GHB 558 (0.65) and RHB 121 (0.63) but quite superior to Pusa 383 (0.49) in the recommended package of practices. In farmer’s practices, the SYI was found maximum in hybrid GHB 558 (0.42) and it was followed by Raj 121 (0.37), RHB 121 (0.30) and Pusa 383 (0.22) cultivars. The study indicated better performance of both the hybrids GHB 558 and RHB 121 than the populations Raj 171 and Pusa 383 under both the management levels
Key words: Pearl millet, hybrids, populations, farmer’s practices, sustainable yield index (SYI)