Impact of nutrient management practices on yield and economics of foxtail millet under foxtail millet-chickpea cropping system in integrated farming system under Tungabhadra project area of Karnataka, India

A field experiment was conducted on clay soils at Agricultural Research station, Siruguppa, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur during 2021-22 and 2022-23 to find out the impact of nutrient management practices on foxtail millet yield and economics under foxtail millet-chickpea cropping system. A week before foxtail millet seeding, required quantity of organic manures and inorganic fertilizers were added to the soil as per the treatment. A two-year study’s worth of combined data showed that different approaches to nutrient management improved foxtail millet production and profitability significantly. Among the treatments, the highest biological yield (6367 kg ha^-1), grain yield (2084 kg ha^-1) and stover yield (4269 kg ha^-1) were recorded with the application of 100% RDF through inorganic fertilizers followed by the application of 75% N through inorganic fertilizers + 25% N through organic manures (biological yield: 5697 kg ha^-1; grain yield: 1832 kg ha^-1 and stover yield: 3875 kg ha^-1), both were statistically on par with each other while superior over rest of the treatments. Similar trend was also recorded for gross return, net returns and benefit cost ratio during the both the years of pooled data. However, harvest index of foxtail millet crop recorded non-significant values among the different nutrient management practices. In order to maximize the foxtail millet productivity and economics under foxtail millet-chickpea cropping system, it is therefore feasible to grow the crop under combined application of organic manures (75% N) and inorganic fertilizers (25% N).