Response of organic manures on water use efficiency, yield and soil properties in finger millet under rainfed condition

Abstract

The present study was carried out to know the effective organic manures to substitute for chemical fertilizers in enhancing productivity of Fingermillet under rainfed condition with different organic manures viz., FYM, sewage sludge, poultry manure compost, urban garbage compost, enriched urban garbage compost and vermicompost at the rate equivalent to recommended nitrogen and comparison with inorganic fertilizers. Highest grain yield (1870 kg ha-1) and straw yield (3105 kg ha-1) of finger millet was recorded with application of sewage sludge followed by poultry manure compost (1833 and 3052 kg ha-1, respectively) over all other treatments. Maximum water use of efficiency (6.20 and 6.01 Kg ha mm-1, respectively) was noticed with use of poultry manure compost and sewage sludge. Application of sewage sludge recorded highest Soil microbial population viz., bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes population, microbial biomass carbon and microbial biomass N (17.00q X 107 cfu/g, 23.29 X 104 cfu/g, 21.46 X103 cfu/g, 1862.2 mg/g and 217.6 mg/g of soil, respectively) followed by poultry manure compost and lowest in inorganic fertilizer. Organic sources of nutrients tended to improve soil physico-chemical properties viz, bulk density, water holding capacity, Porosity and organic carbon. The highest organic carbon content was noticed with the application of sewage sludge (0.64 %) followed by poultry manure.