Hydrogel and Irrigation Scheduling on Pearl Millet: Effect of Hydrogel and Irrigation Scheduling on Growth, Yield and Quality of Summer Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.)

A field experiment entitled “Effect of hydrogel and irrigation scheduling on growth, yield and quality of summer pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.)” was carried out during summer season of 2020 at the Instructional Farm, Agronomy, College of Agriculture, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh. Results indicated that scheduling irrigation at an IW/CPE ratio of 1.0 recorded significantly higher growth parameters of pearl millet. Similarly, irrigation scheduling at 1.0 recorded significantly higher value of yield and quality components viz., effective tillers per plant, length and girth of ear head as well as grain weight per ear head, grain yield (4563 kg/ha), stalk yield (7718 kg/ha) and protein yield. Almost all the growth characters, yield attributes, grain and stalk yields as well as net return and B:C ratio of pearl millet was found significantly higher when crop was sown at H2 (hydrogel at 5.0 kg/ha) over H1 (hydrogel at 2.5 kg/ha) and H0 (hydrogel at 0.0 kg/ha).