Fertilizer responsiveness of short duration improved finger millet genotypes to different levels of NPK fertilizers

A field experiment was carried out at Agricultural Research Station, Vizianagaram, during Kharif, 2016 under rainfed conditions to know the fertilizer responsiveness of promising finger millet varieties to graded doses of NPK fertilizers. Twenty treatment combinations were tested in split- plot design with three replications. Experimental results revealed that with 125% RDF grain yield increase was 10%, 27% and 48% higher than 100% RDF, 75% RDF and 50% RDF respectively. Among the finger millet genotypes, grain yield of VL-379(2037 kg/ha) and VL-352(1989 kg/ha) was significantly high and was at par with national check variety VR-708(1959 kg/ha). Both the test varieties (VL-379 and VL-352) were far superior to local check variety in terms of growth and yield characteristics. Higher net monetary returns and B:C ratio were obtained with VL-379, followed by VR-708 and VL-352 at 125% RDF.