Study on crop geometry of foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.) for optimum growth parameter

Abstract

An experiment was carried out at the field of Agronomy Farm Section, College of Agriculture, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India during the rabi season of 2023-2024 entitled “Study on crop geometry of foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.) for optimum growth and yield”. The experiment was carried out in Randomized Block Design with eleven treatments and three replications. The treatment comprise of eleven plant to plant and row to row spacings viz., T1 - 45 cm x 5 cm, T2 - 30 cm x 5 cm, T3 - 22.5 cm x 5 cm, T4 - 45 cm x 10 cm, T5 - 30 cm x 10 cm, T6 - 22.5 cm x 10 cm, T7 - 30 cm x 5 cm Paired row, T8 - 30 cm x 10 cm Paired row, T9 - 22.5 cm x 5 cm Paired row, T10 - 22.5 cm x 10 cm Paired row, T11 - 30 cm x 15 cm. Among the various spacings, 22.5 cm x 10 cm recorded taller plant height (141.63 cm), more number of functional leaves plant-1 (13), maximum number of effective tillers plant-1 (7.86), higher dry matter accumulation (24.10 g), maximum leaf area plant-1 (640 cm2) and takes less number of days to 50% flowering (48 days).