European Journal of Biotechnology and Bioscience

Authors
Prabudoss V, S Jawahar, P Shanmugaraja, K Dhanam

Abstract
An experiment was conducted at Department of Agronomy, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar for kharif seasons of 2014 to study the effect of integrated nutrient management (INM) on growth, yield and economics of transplanted kodo millet. The treatments consisted of The treatments comprised of T₁-Control,T₂ -75 % Recommended Dose of Fertilizers (33:17.5:0 kg NPK ha^-1),T₃ -75 % RDF + soil application of Azospirillum @ 2 kg ha^-1, T₄ -75 % RDF + soil application of Azospirillum @ 2 kg ha^-1+ vermicompost @ 2 t ha^-1, T₅ -75 % RDF + soil application of Azospirillum@ 2 kg ha^-1 + vermicompost @ 2 t ha^-1 + foliar application of 1 % poly feed at tillering and flowering, T₆ -100 % RDF (44:22:0 kg NPK ha^-1), T₇ -100 % RDF + soil application of Azospirillum @ 2 kg ha^-1, T₈ -100 % RDF + soil application of Azospirillum @ 2 kg ha^-1 + vermicompost @ 2 t ha^-1, T₉-100 % RDF + soil application of Azospirillum @ 2 kg ha^-1 + vermicompost @ 2 t ha^-1 + foliar application of 1 % poly feed at tillering and flowering, T₁₀ -125 % RDF (55:27.5:0 kg NPK ha^-1), T₁₁ -125 % RDF + soil application of Azospirillum @ 2 kg ha^-1, T₁₂ -125 % RDF + soil application of Azospirillum @ 2 kg ha^-1 + vermicompost @ 2 t ha^-1, T₁₃ 125 % RDF + soil application of Azospirillum @ 2 kg ha^-1 + vermicompost @ 2 t ha^-1 + foliar application of 1 % poly feed at tillering and flowering. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications. The higher growth (plant height, number of tillers hill^-1, leaf area index at flowering and dry matter production) and yield attributes (number of panicles hill^-1, number of grains panicles^-1 and thousand grain weight) and yield (grain and straw) of kodo millet was recorded at 125% RDF, Azospirillum, vermicompost and poly feed. The same treatment recorded higher net return and Return Rupee^-1 invested in kodo millet. This was on par with 125 % recommended dose of fertilizers (55:27.5:0 kg NPK ha^-1) + soil application of Azospirillum @ 2 kg ha^-1 + vermicompost @ 2 t ha^-1. The lowest values on growth, yield attributes, yield, and economics were recorded at absolute control. Hence it can be concluded that integration of 125 per cent recommended dose of NPK fertilizers (55:27.5:0 kg NPK ha^-1) + soil application of Azospirillum @ 2 kg ha^-1 + vermicompost @ 2 t ha^-1 + foliar application of 1 % poly feed at tillering and flowering stages holds immense potentiality to boost the productivity and profitability of transplanted kodo millet.