Integrated Nutrient Management on Fodder Dual Purpose Oat (Avena sativa L.)

Aim: To study the effect of integrated nutrient management (INM) on growth, yield and quality of dual purpose fodder oat.

Study Design: Randomized Block Design.

Place and Duration of Study: Anand Agricultural University, Anand during Rabi 2019-2021.

Methodology: The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with four replications. The experimental treatments were consisted of ten INM treatments viz., T1 (100% recommendation dose of fertilizer; RDF’ 80-40-00 kg NPK/ha), T2 (10 t FYM/ha + 100% RDF), T3 (castor cake/ha + 100% RDF), T4 (poultry manure/ha + 100% RDF), T5 (neem cake/ha + 100% RDF), T6 (5 t FYM + 25% RDN from FYM + 75% RDF + biofertilizer), T7 (5 t FYM + 25% RDN from castor cake + 75% RDF + biofertilizer), T8 (5 t FYM + 25% RDN from poultry manure + 75% RDF + biofertilizer), T9 (5 t FYM + 25% RDN from neem cake + 75% RDF + biofertilizer) and T10 (50% RDN from FYM + 50% RDN from castor cake + biofertilizer). Amount of castor cake, poultry manure and neem cake were applied based on 10 t FYM/ha equivalent N, i.e., respectively 1.45, 3.23 and 3.27 t/ha.

Results: The results revealed that quality parameters of fodder oat such as dry matter, dry matter yield, crude protein, ADF, NDF, crude fiber contents as well as ash content of green fodder and straw were found significant superior with application of T6 and T10 treatments. Similarly, NPK content and their uptake into the seed and straw were also found significantly higher with the same treatments. The physicochemical and biological properties of experimental field soil at harvest of oat crop were also considerably improved due to application of INM treatment as compared to initial soil nutrient status.