Effect of Nitrogen and Iron on Growth and Yield of Foxtail Millet (Setaria italica L.)

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted during Zaid season 2022 at the experimental field of Crop Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Department of Agronomy, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj and Uttar Pradesh, India. The soil of the experimental plot was sandy loam in texture, nearly neutral in soil reaction (pH 7.3), low in organic carbon (0.48%), available nitrogen (230 kg/ha), available phosphorus (13.60 kg/ha) and available potassium (215.4 kg/ha). The treatments consist of 3 levels of Nitrogen (40 Kg, 50 Kg and 60 Kg/ ha) as a basal application and Iron (0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 %) as foliar spray along with control. The experiment was layout in Randomized Block Design with Ten treatments each replicated thrice. Growth attributes namely higher plant height (101.57cm), maximum dry weight/plant (14.83 g), more number of tillers/hill (8.87) and yield attributes namely higher panicle length (18.61 cm), grains/panicle (1389.30), grain yield (1.79 t/ha) and straw yield (2.53 t/ha) were observed with application of nitrogen 60 Kg/ha and iron 0.6%.