Sustainable Nutrient Management in Aerobic Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) under Rainfed Agriculture

The poor resource growers of southern Chhattisgarh have deprived of modern technologies of cultivation including externally managed inputs to augment the finger millet production. The low, negligible or no profit associated rainfed (aerobic) agriculture is still the only option owing to their socio-economic condition and physiographic location.The field experiment was conducted during the rainy (Kharif) seasons of 2011 and 2012 at Bastar district of Chhattisgarh with local finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn) locally known as ‘Mandiya’ for assessing the sustainability of finger millet productivity. The soil was sandy loam, low in organic carbon (0.43%), and available N (178 kg/ha), P (21.4 kg/ha), medium in K (179 kg/ha) available with almost neutral (pH 6.8) in reaction. Application of fertilizer and manure significantly increased plant height and flag leaf length; N:P:K @ 40:30:15 kg/ha + 7 t/ha or 50:40:20 N:P:K kg/ha + Rice husk ash 4t/ha gave significantly taller plants, flag leaf length, tillers/hill, filled grains/finger and finger length than other fertilizer treatments along with Rice husk ash (RHA). Application of NPK above the level of 30:20:10 kg NPK/ha + FYM or RHA did not significantly increase finger millet grain yield. Higher net returns were produced when lower levels of NPK was applied along with RHA.