RAHUL V. KALE* AND P. S. TAKAWALE
BAIF Development Research Foundation,
Central Research Station, Urulikanchan, Pune, Maharashtra-412202 (India)
*(e-mail: rahul.kale@baif.org.in)
(Received : 02 September 2023; Accepted : 28 September)
SUMMARY
Good quality green fodder production is very important in dairy farming. For the green fodder farmers grow B N hybrid, Maize, Sorghum, Cowpea, Lucerne etc. These are fodder crops require high irrigation water compared to Pearl millet. Fodder pearl millet is dual purpose crop which can be consumed as green fodder by livestock and grain by human. Pearl millet can be cultivated on light to medium soil with less amount of water. It is an ideal crop with high tillering ability, high dry matter production, high protein content (9-11 %) with excellent growth habit, high palatability and better nutritive value.. Among the different varieties tested variety namely 16ADV0055 was recorded significantly higher green fodder yield of 554.60q/ha followed by varieties BAIF Bajra-1 and Dev-1 with 521.80 and 519.68 q/ha respectively. In case of nitrogen levels 90kg Nitrogen/ha was found significantly superior over the 60kg and 30 kg nitrogen/ha. Significantly maximum green fodder yield of 467.93q/ha was recorded with application of 90kg N/ha followed by 60kg N/ha with green fodder yield of 431.72 q/ha. Significantly higher dry matter yield of 84.37q/ha was recorded by the variety 16ADV0055 which was found at par with Dev-1 and BAIF bajra-1 with value of 81.22 q/ha and 77.88 q/ha dry matter yield. Maximum dry matter yield of 71.62 q/ha was obtained with application of nitrogen @ 60 kg/ha which was found at par with application of nitrogen @90kg/ha. In case of crude protein yield, variety Dev1 was recorded significantly maximum CP yield of 8.63 with application of nitrogen @ 90 kg/ha which was found at par with variety 16 ADV0055 with 8.61 q/ha CP yield.
Key words: Forage pearl millet, Nitrogen level, green fodder yield, Dry matter yield and crude protein yield