RESPONSE OF FORAGE PEARL MILLET (PENNISETUM GLAUCUM L.) GENOTYPES TO DIFFERENT NITROGEN LEVELS
R. S. SHEORAN, SATPAL*, U. N. JOSHI, B. S. DUHAN AND S. ARYA
Forage Section, Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding
CCS Haryana Agricultural University,
Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India
*(e-mail : satpal.fpj@gmail.com)
(Received : 30 June 2016; Accepted : 08 September 2016)
SUMMARY
A field experiment was conducted at CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar (Haryana) during rainy season (kharif) of 2015 to study the effect of different nitrogen levels on the yield and quality of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) genotypes. Four pearl millet genotypes viz., Raj Bajra Chari-2, AVKB-19, DFMH-30 and Giant Bajra were tested for their response at 0, 30, 60 and 90 kg N/ha. Among genotypes, Giant Bajra (Check) proved significantly superior than remaining genotypes for green fodder as well as dry matter yield. Genotype AVKB-19 recorded highest crude protein content (10.2%) followed by DFMH-30 (10.1%). The increasing levels of nitrogen from 0 to 90 kg/ha significantly increased the green fodder and dry matter yield over their lower levels. Application of 90 kg N/ha brought out an increase of 44.3, 29.7 and 7.0 per cent in green fodder and 54.0, 18.2 and 3.7 per cent in dry matter over 0, 30 and 60 kg N/ha, respectively. Among genotypes, maximum gross returns (Rs. 41986/ha), net returns (Rs. 27407/ha) and B : C ratio (2.88) were fetched in Giant Bajra closely followed by DFMH-30. Among different nitrogen levels, maximum gross returns (Rs. 36253/ha), net returns (Rs. 21,135/ha) and B : C ratio (2.40) were fetched with the application of 90 kg N/ha.
Key words: Green fodder yield, dry matter, nitrogen, pearl millet, crude protein