Abstract

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn) is one of the tropical crops having potential to produce considerable quantity of nutritious food grains under suboptimal resource and management conditions. During recent years, researches on crop improvement result in development of improved cultivars producing higher yield and respond well to applied nutrients. However, there is a need for evaluation of the varietal performance for nutrient response under given agroclimatic conditions. Considering the above, an experiment was conducted at Bagusala Farm, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Odisha during rabi season of 2019–20. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design (SPD) comprising of main plot treatments (three varieties, namely, Arjuna, KMR 204 and VL Mandua 352) and subplot treatments (four nutrient levels, control, 50% recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF), 100% RDF and 150% RDF) with a total treatment combination of 12. The recommended dose of fertilizer was 40: 20: 20 kg N:P2O5: K2O/ha. The results indicated that the variety Arjuna expressed significantly greater values in terms of yield attributes and grain, straw and biological yields. More quantity of nutrients (N, P and K) uptake was also noticed with the variety Arjuna. Application of 150% RDF recorded significantly superior yield attributes, grain, straw and biological yields and uptake of primary nutrients than other nutrient doses. The study revealed that for obtaining higher yield of finger millet and nutrient recovery, the variety Arjuna may be cultivated with a nutrient dose of 150% RDF in low fertile soil conditions of South Odisha.