On-farm crop response to plant nutrients in pre-dominant cropping systems

Abstract

The Pearlmillet and Wheat cropping sequence has gained popularity in scarcity zone of Western Maharashtra. A Field experiment was conducted on cultivator’s field during Kharif and Rabi season of 2017-18 on medium black soil in scarcity zone of Satara district in Western Maharashtra to study the crop response to plant nutrients in pearlmillet-wheat cropping systems. The field experiment was carried out on farmer’s field in Randomized block design with twenty four replication and seven treatments The treatment comprised of recommended dose of N, P2O5 and K2O (50:25:25 kg/ha for Pearlmillet and 120:60:40 kg/ha for wheat) along with micronutrient on soil test basis (25 Kg and 20 kg ZnSO4 / ha for pearlmillet and wheat, respectively.) has obtained significantly higher yield of grain (26.78 q/ha) and straw (42.96 q/ha) of pearlmillet. Such yields of pearlmillet have shown an increase of 35.10 and 52.90 percent, respectively over control treatment. The same treatment accrued significantly higher yield of wheat grain (33.33 q/ha) and straw (52.01 q/ha) as compared to other treatments, which has indicated an increase of 34.28 and 54.46 percent of grain and straw, respectively over control treatment. The highest gross returns, net returns and B:C ratio were observed in respect of kharif pearlmillet were `43,931.08, `36,855.46 and 1.19, respectively. In case of rabi wheat the highest gross returns, cost of cultivation, net returns and B:C ratio were `67,800.81, `40,010.63 `27790.19 and 1.69.