Can site-specific nutrient management improve the productivity and resource use efficiency of climate-resilient finger millet in calcareous soils in India?

ABSTRACT

Finger millet, an important 'Nutri-Cereal' and climate-resilient crop, is cultivated as a marginal crop in calcareous soils. Calcareous soils have low organic carbon content, high pH levels, and poor structure. Such a situation leads to poor productivity of the crop. Site-specific nutrient management (SSNM), which focuses on supplying optimum nutrients when a crop is needed, can ensure optimum production and improve the nutrient and energy use efficiency of crops. Moreover, developing an appropriate SSNM technique for this crop could offer new insights into nutrient management practices, particularly for calcareous soils. A field experiment was conducted during the rainy seasons of 2020 and 2021 in calcareous soil at Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, India. The experiment consisted of 8 treatments, viz. control, nitrogen (N)/phosphorus (P)/potassium (K)-omission, 75 %, 100 %, and 125 % recommended fertilizer dose (RFD), and 100 % recommended P and K + 30 kg ha-1 N as basal + rest N as per GreenSeeker readings. From this study, it was observed that the GreenSeeker-based SSNM resulted in the maximum grain yield (2873 kg ha-1), net output energy (96.3 GJ ha-1), and agronomic efficiency of N (30.6 kg kg-1), P (68.9 kg kg-1), and K (68.9 kg kg-1). The application of 125 % RFD resulted in ∼7 % lower yield than that under GreenSeeker-based nutrient management. Approximately 12 % greater energy use efficiency and 21-36 % greater nutrient use efficiency were recorded under GreenSeeker-based nutrient management than under 125 % RDF. The indigenous supplies of N, P, and K were found to be 14.31, 3.00, and 18.51 kg ha-1, respectively. Thus, 100 % of the recommended P and K + 30 kg ha-1 N as basal + rest N according to GreenSeeker readings can improve the yield, nutrient use efficiency, and energy balance of finger millet in calcareous soils.