Tillage and Nutrient Management Strategies to Improve the Performances of Little Millet under Irrigated Condition

Background: Millets rank sixth among cereal grains which has a great potential in contributing to food and nutritional security. Little millet (Panicum sumatrense L.), a minor millet, quick germinating, short duration crop tolerant to drought, excess moisture and also rich in nutrients. Use of improved varieties and good agronomic management such as tillage practices, crop rotation, cropping system and fertilization by nutrient management through organic manures and foliar supplementation during critical stages helps in improving the soil fertility and maximize the crop productivity. Hence, there is a need to develop the organic nutrient management of minor millets for food production, nutritional security and maintaining the soil fertility as well as productivity. Based on this consideration, a new immersing attempt was made to develop and identify the suitable tillage prac­tices and nutrient management practices on growth and yield of little millet. Methods: Field experiments were conducted in the research farm of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during summer and rabi season 2022 in order to investigate the growth and yield performances of little millet under tillage and different nutrient sources. The experiment was laid out in strip plot design with 2 main plot and 7 sub-plot treatments. The main plot consist of tillage practices viz., conventional tillage and farmer’s practices whereas sub-plot consist of nutrient management practices includes organic manures along with foliar nutrition. Result: The results revealed that conventional tillage (Disc plough + Cultivator + Rotovator) with application of enriched vermicompost @ 1 t ha-1 followed by foliar spray of 3% panchagavya on 30th DAS and 5% of egg amino acid on 45th DAS had greater effect on growth parameters and yield attributes of little millet during summer and rabi season, 2022.