Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

Vol 29, Issue 1, 2023; Page No.(77-80)

INFLUENCE OF SOWING TIME ON YIELD AND ECONOMICS OFSMALL MILLET CROPS DURING KHARIF IN YSR KADAPA DISTRICTOF ANDHRA PRADESH

E. Aruna

Abstract

In the changing climate scenario, millet crops are gaining importance due to factors such aslow-maintenance,disease and pest resistance, nutritional benefits, market demand, fodder value and ecological benefits. Asfarmers especially in dry land areas are showing interest in cultivation of millets, finding out an optimumtime of sowing for getting higher yield and good returns has become essential. Hence, the experiment waslaid out at Agricultural Research Station, Utukur, Kadapa during kharif seasons of 2019 and 2020 to evaluatethe performance of small millet crops under different sowing windows. The trial included threesowingwindows namely July I F.N, July II F.N, and August I F.N and six millet crops viz., foxtail millet, littlemillet, brown top millet, proso millet, kodo millet and barnyard millet which were laid out in split plotdesign with sowing times in main plots and six millet crops in sub plots in three replications. The resultsindicated that July II F.N is the optimum time of sowing for small millet crops to get higheryield and netreturns. Among the different crops sown, kodomillet recorded higher seed yield at different times of sowingfollowed by brown top millet. Whereas the lowest seed yield was recorded with little millet crop at all thedates of sowing.