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U. BRAMHAIAH*, V. CHANDRIKA, A.V. NAGAVANI, J.V. RAMANA AND P. LATHA
Department of Agronomy, S.V. Agricultural college, ANGRAU, Tirupati – 517 502, Chittoor Dt., A.P.
A field experiment was carried out during kharif, 2015 on sandy clay loam soils of dryland farm of S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with factorial concept and replicated thrice. The treatments consisted of four fodder pearlmillet varieties viz., Gaint bajra, BAIF bajra, Raj bajra chari-2 and APFB-09-1 and four nitrogen levels viz., 75, 100, 125 and 150 kg N ha-1. Among the four varieties evaluated, BAIF bajra recorded higher green forage and dry matter yield, higher crude protein and crude protein yield, but total ash content was found to be non-significant with choice of variety during both the cuts. Whereas the variety Raj bajra chari-2 recorded the higher crude fibre content, while the lowest crude fibre content was recorded with the variety BAIF bajra. Applica-tion of 150 kg N ha-1 recorded higher green forage and dry matter yield, higher crude protein, crude protein yield but total ash content was significantly influenced by different nitrogen levels of nitrogen during second cut only. Application of 75 kg N ha-1 recorded the highest crude fiber content.
Crude protein, crude fibre, nitrogen levels, total ash and varieties
Pearlmillet is an important crop grown for food and fodder for human and livestock population respectively. It is an important component of agricultural and animal husbandry dominated rural economy of dryland areas of India. It is a fast growing short duration crop which has high biomass production potential. It is grown in arid and semi arid regions where moisture is the limiting factor for crop growth. It is an ideal crop with high tillering ability, high dry matter production, high protein content (10- 12 %) with excellent growth habit, high palatability and better nutritive value. The green fodder of bajra is leafy, palatable and very nutritious feedstock for cattle ensuring good milk yield. It has no HCN content as compared to sorghum and can be fed to cattle at any stage of the crop. Now-a-days many new improved cultivars of fodder pearlmillet are coming up, therefore it is necessary to study the response of these cultivars to fertilizers especially for nitrogen to harvest potential yield. Nitrogen is one of the basic plant nutrients essential for profuse growth. It increases vegetative growth of plant and herbage quality which is highly desirable for the forage yield and dry matter accumulation. Keeping these points in view, the present study is proposed to find out a
suitable fodder pearlmillet variety and optimum nitrogen level for higher green fodder yield and quality.
A field experiment was carried out during kharif, 2015 on sandy clay loam soils of dryland farm of S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with factorial concept and replicated thrice. The treatments consisted of four fodder pearlmillet varieties viz., Gaint bajra, BAIF bajra, Raj bajra chari-2 and APFB-09-1 and four nitrogen levels viz., 75, 100, 125 and 150 kg N ha-1. Crop was harvested for green fodder purpose at 50% flowering in all the varieties during both the cuts. The analysis of proximate principles in forage was done by the method recommended by Association of Official Analytical Chemists (A.O.A.C., 1990). The data pertaining to growth parameters and yield was recorded at different intervals was statistically analysed following the analysis of variance for randomized block design with factorial concept as suggested by Panse and Sukhatme (1985).
Different fodder pearl millet varieties and nitrogen levels significantly influenced the yield and quality parameters. However interactive effects between varieties and nitrogen levels trials were not significant.At first and second cuts, BAIF bajra recorded the highest green fodder and dry matter yield, while the lowest green forage and dry matter yield (Table-1) was obtained with Raj bajra chari-2.This might be due to the superiority of the genotype to produce more values of growth characteristics like plant height, leaf area index, leaf to stem ratio and number of tillers plant-1. Similar results were also reported by Midha et al. (2015) and Damame et al. (2013). There was an increase in green forage and dry matter yield with increasing nitrogen levels from 75 to 150 kg N ha-1 and the maximum dry matter yield was noticed with the application of 150 kg N ha-1 followed by 125 kg N ha-1. The lowest dry matter yield was recorded with application of 75 kg N ha-1. This might be due to the vegetative growth of the crop which was positively correlated for higher green fodder and dry matter yield. Similar results were also obtained by Devi and Padmaja (2007) and Singh et al. (2012).
Among the varieties tested, significantly higher crude protein content and crude protein yield (Table-1) were recorded with BAIF bajra and the lowest values were noticed with Raj bajra chari-2.With regard to the nitrogen levels, the highest crude protein content and crude protein yield were obtained with 150 kg N ha-1 (N4), which was however comparable with application of 125 kg N ha-1
.The lowest crude protein content and crude protein yield (Table- 1) were recorded with 75 kg N ha-1 .This might be due to application of nitrogen resulted in increased availability of nitrogen status in the soil, which inturn leads to significant improvement in nitrogen content in fodder and ultimately the crude protein content also increased. Crude protein yield may be due to increased crude protein and dry matter yield. These results were in cognizance with the finding of Damame et al. (2013) and Meena and Jain (2013).
The maximum crude fibre content (Table 1) was registered with the variety Raj bajra chari-2, which was significantly superior to the other varieties tried. The lowest crude fibre content was observed with BAIF bajra. Application of 75 kg N ha-1 resulted in the highest crude fibre content, while the lowest crude fibre content was noticed with application of 150 kg N ha-1. This may be
due to inherent genetic character of the varieties and higher nitrogen content which is the major constituent of amino acids and protein and decreased the pectin, cellulose, hemicellulose and proportion of carbohydrates, hence decreased crude fibre content (Babu et al., 1995).
During both the cuts of fodder pearlmillet, varieties did not exert any significant influence on the total ash content. Nitrogen levels could not influence on the total ash content significantly during the first cut. Whereas, in second cut application of 150 kg N ha-1 resulted the highest total ash content, while the lowest total ash content was recorded with the application of 75 kg N ha-1. These findings corroborate with the results of Chaurasia et al. (2006).
Results of the present experiment revealed that the variety BAIF bajra recorded significantly higher green fodder yield, dry matter yield, crude protein and crude protein yield. However, the variety Raj bajra chari-2 recorded significantly higher crude fibre over the other varieties tested. Application of 150 kg N ha-1 has recorded significantly higher green forage yield, dry matter yield, crude protien, crude protein yield and total ash content. Whereas, crude fibre content was significantly reduced with application of 150 kg N ha-1.