Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

EFFECT OF MOISTURE CONSERVATION PRACTICES ON ROOTING PATTERN AND NUTRIENT UPTAKE OF FINGER MILLET + PIGEONPEA INTERCROPPING SYSTEM

Mallareddy, M.N Thimmegowda and A. Satish

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during Kharif season of 2013 to study the effect of different moisture conservation practices onrooting pattern and nutrient uptake of finger millet + pigeonpea inter cropping system under dry land situations at AICRP on Dry land Agriculture field unit, UAS, GKVK, Bangalore. The experiment consisting of 10 treatments replicated thrice were laid out in RCBD. Higher root length (33.33 cm), root weight (14.44 g hill-1), root volume (46.67 cc) and root density (0.31 g cc-1) were obtained in the green leaf manure with maize residue mulch treatment. Application of green leaf manure with maize residue mulch treatment recorded significantly higher N, P205 and K2O uptake (73.85, 15.40 and 47.43 kg ha-1, respectively) in finger millet followed by tank silt with maize residue mulch treatment (68.56, 14.93 and 47.33 kg ha-1, respectively) as compared to control (41.83,10.30 and 34.94 kg ha-1, respectively).