Optimizing Nutrient Management for Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana) in Lateritic Soils of Odisha: Effects on Growth, Yield and Economics

Abstract

Finger Millet is a nutritional powerhouse as it contains many essential nutrients including iron, protein, calcium, dietary fibre, and carbohydrates. Since it's a gluten-free cereal, it has received attention for its impressive value in nutrition thus serving as a potential tool in battling malnutrition. It is resistant to extreme weather conditions. Despite its rich nutrient content, recent studies show lesser intake of millets as a whole. Therefore, a field experiment has been conducted at the farmers' field of Bargarh district of Odisha in kharif, 2023 in Lateritic soil under the demonstration programme of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bargarh to assess the impact of nutrient management practices on the growth, yield, and economics of finger millet crop at Bargarh district of Odisha. The recommended dose (40:20:20) was applied through Farmer's practice (FP). Recommended practice (RP), application of lime @0.25 LR; lime is applied 15 days before flowering followed by N-P2O5-K2O (30:20:20 kg ha-1). Each treatment was replicated 10 times on randomized block design. Nutrient management practices at applied dose resulted in the increased yield along with the entire yield attributes of the crop. Also, the maximum net return and B:C was noted in RP when compared with FP. Finger millet thresher was proved to be effective as it increased the working capacity than the traditional practices. The cost of threshing was found to be low than the conventional practices for threshing of one quintal of finger millet.