Performance of different nutri-cereals in non-traditional rainfed agroecosystem of eastern India

Evaluation of of nutri-cereals cereals in non-traditiona area

Abstract

A long-term field experiment was initiated during kharif season of 2020 and 2021 at the ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Patna, Bihar, India (25o30’N, 85o15’E, 52 m above mean sea levels) with an objective of designing the most productive, profitable, and sustainable climate-resilient cropping system for eastern India. Soil of experimental site was loamy in texture (50.4, 35 and 14.6% sand, silt and clay) with pH of 7.5, EC of 0.12 dS m-1, soil organic carbon content of 6.0 g kg-1, KMnO4 oxidizable N of 64.6 mg kg-1, Olsen P-23.9 mg kg-1, NH4OAc exchangeable K-78.3 mg kg-1 and DTPA-extractable Zn-0.66 mg kg-1 (0-15 cm soil). During 1st/ 2nd year of study, 07 nutri-cereals including [(jowar (CSV 15) and bajra (Proagro 9001)] and 5-minor nutri-cereals [(ragi (RAU 8), barnyard millet (VC 207), foxtail millet (Rajendra Kauni), proso-millet (TNAU 202) and kodo-millet (JK 41)] grown under 3-different planting window i.e., starting with onset of monsoon (05 July) and later at 10-days intervals (15 and 25 July). Our results revealed that 2nd planting window system (15 July) was performed better compared to first and second planting system (5 and 25 July) in terms of crop yields. Among the nutri-cereals, sorghum (3.43 t ha-1) and pearl millet (2.89 t ha-1) as major and barnyard millet (2.06 t ha-1), finger millet (1.93 t ha-1) and kodo-millet (2.05 t ha-1) as minor nutri-cereals were found more productive when planted on 15th July. It may be concluded that nutri-cereals planted up to 15th July performed better in terms of crop productivity for sustainable millets production system under non-traditional rainfed agroecosystem of eastern India.