<div>Background: Pearlmillet is conventionally cultivated by farmers either broadcasting or uniform row spacing of 45 cm where it is difficult to accommodate an intercrop. Modified planting pattern provides additional space for intercrop component as well as harvest better solar energy in the system. 
 
Methods: The field experiment was conducted in Department of Agronomy, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during Kharif (July-October) of 2019. The experiment was laid out in split plot design and were replicated thrice. Different crop geometry viz. 45 x 15 cm, 60 x 15 cm, 30/60 x 15 cm and 30/90 x 15 cm were adopted in main plots, whereas intercropping [S1- Greengram, S2-Sesame and S3- No intercrop] were allotted in subplots. 
 
Result: Pearlmillet grown under paired row sowing 30/90 x 15 cm recorded higher growth attributes and yield parameters. Grain and stover yields was also recorded higher in the above-mentioned crop geometry. In intercropping system higher growth and yield parameters was observed in sole crop treatment and it was on par with greengram intercropping system. Pearlmillet grown under paired row sowing 30/90 x 15 cm (M4) + greengram (S1) recorded higher equivalent yield.</div>

Crop Geometry and Intercropping of Legume and Oilseed in Irrigated Pearlmillet

<div>Background: Pearlmillet growing areas in country are mostly confined to coarse texture soil suffering from the problem of poor moisture retention capacity, low soil fertility and zinc deficiency. The main problem of rainfed area is uncertainty and uneven distribution of rainfall and loss of water through runoff which lead to low and unstable productivity due to moisture stress at critical stage of crop growth. At present, widespread and acute deficiency of zinc is another serious problem in arid and semi-arid region. Hence, the current study aim to find out suitable moisture conservation practices and zinc fertilization to mitigate the water stress and zinc deficiency under rainfed condition. 
 
Methods: A study on &ldquo;Effect of moisture conservation practices and zinc fertilization on nutrient status and quality of pearlmillet&rdquo; was conducted at Agronomy farm, S.K.N. College of Agriculture, Jobner (Rajasthan) during kharif, 2017. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design (RBD) with 20 treatments and replicated thrice. The experiment consisted of five moisture conservation practices i.e. control, dust mulch, pusa hydrogel, stover mulch and pusa hydrogel + stover mulch and four zinc fertilization practices i.e. control, 2 kg Zn/ha, 4 kg Zn/ha and 6 kg Zn/ha.&nbsp; 
 
Result: The perusal of data clearly indicated that among moisture conservation practices, stover mulch proved significantly superior to control, dust mulch, pusa hydrogel with respect to higher in N, P, K and &nbsp;Zn content, their total uptake and protein content in pearlmillet but it was at par with pusa hydrogel + stover mulch. Under zinc fertilization treatments direct application of 6.0 and 4.0 kg Zn/ha being at par with each other and recorded significantly higher in nutrient content, protein content and total uptake of N, Zn and K over control.</div>

<div>Effect of Moisture Conservation Practices and Zinc Fertilization on Nutrient Status and Quality of Pearlmillet Pennisetum glaucum (L.) under Rainfed Condition</div>

<div>Background: A field experiment was conducted under loamy sand soil during two consecutive kharif seasons of 2018 and 2019 at Agronomy farm, S.K.N. College of Agriculture, Jobner, Jaipur to find out the best moisture conservation practices on growth and yield of pearlmillet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br. emend Stuntz] hybrids. 
 
Methods: Hybrids viz., RHB-173, RHB-177, MPMH-17 and HHB-67 in main plots and moisture conservation practices viz., control, dust mulch, straw mulch, plastic mulch and seed line mulching of FYM in sub plots were tested using split plot design replicated four. 
 
Result: The results further indicated that hybrid RHB-173 being at par with RHB-177 significantly higher plant height, dry matter accumulation, yield attributes, grain yield (2097 kg/ha), stover yield (5500 kg/ha) and biological yield (7597 kg/ha) over MPMH-17 and HHB-67. Result showed that application of plastic mulch recorded significantly increased the plant height, dry matter accumulation, yield attributes, grain yield (2145 kg/ha), stover yield (5620 kg/ha) and biological yield (7764 kg/ha) compared to other moisture conservation practices in both the years of experimentation as well as on pooled basis.</div>

Effect of Moisture Conservation Practices on Growth and Yield of Pearlmillet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br. emend Stuntz] Hybrids

<div>Background: A suitable cropping system seem to be the possible solution to meet the continuous increase in demand for food, stability of income and diverse requirement of food grains. Selection of suitable cropping system for conservation of resources has prime importance now a day. The cropping systems selected in study have higher potential of production along with incorporable residues during winter. The residues of cotton, castor and mustard crops (Crops in selected cropping systems) have more potential to feed nutrients to soil as compared to burning. So incorporation of such crop residues in to soil helps to recycle the nutrients to correct their deficiencies. Farmyard manure is being used as major source of organic manure in field crops. Thus to maintain the soil health, integrated nutrient management approaches involving FYM and mineral source need to be standardized. So there is need to find out agronomically efficient and economically viable cropping system which can perform better for increasing productivity and profitability with association of conservation of natural resources. 
 
Methods: The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications. Sixteen treatment combinations comprising of four cropping system treatments viz, C1 : Cotton- Summer Pearlmillet, C2 : Greengram + Kharif &nbsp;Castor (Relay), C3 : Greengram - Mustard - Summer Pearlmillet and C4 : Greengram - Rabi Castor and two residue incorporation treatments viz, R0 : No residue incorporation and R1 : Residue incorporation as well as two fertilizer doses viz, F1 : 100% RDN through inorganic fertilizer and F2 : 75% RDN through inorganic fertilizer + 25% RDN through FYM were evaluated in the study. 
 
Result: Cotton - summer pearlmillet cropping system found significantly superior by recording higher pearlmillet equivalent yield, system productivity and system profitability while, total weed count/m2 and total weed dry weight were found the lowest under greengram- kharif castor (relay) cropping system. Residue incorporation secured top position by recording significantly the highest pearlmillet equivalent yield, system productivity and system profitability as well as lowest total weed count/m2 and total weed dry weight. Application of 75% RDN through inorganic fertilizer + 25% RDN through FYM recorded significantly highest pearlmillet equivalent yield, system productivity and system profitability. In case of weed count and weed dry weight, 100% RDN through inorganic fertilizer found significantly superior by recording lowest total weed count/m2 and total weed dry weight. &nbsp;</div>

<div>Impact of Cropping Systems and Resource Conservation Techniques on Productivity and Profitability of Systems</div>

<div>Background: Maruca vitrata is an economically important cryptic insect pest in pigeonpea. Caterpillar, the damaging stage hides in the webs thus escapes the contact with insecticides thus making an effective insecticide also ineffective. Hence, the role of some tall statured intercrops in the manipulation of pigeonpea crop environment for reducing the incidence of this webbing caterpillar was studied.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: Studies were conducted at NPRC, Vamban, Pudukottai dt., Tamil Nadu to study the effect of different intercrops in reducing the incidence of Maruca vitrata. During kharif 2016-17 and 2017-18, M. vitrata incidence was compared among the intercropping systems (pigeonpea with pearlmillet, sorghum and maize in 1:6 ratio) and sole pigeonpea crop. IPM modules were formulated in which botanical spray (NSKE 5% at bud initiation stage) and spray of recommended insecticide (indoxacarb 15.8 EC-0.7 ml/lt at flowering and 15 days later) were integrated with intercropping practice and tested for efficacy against this borer pest.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Intercropping of pigeonpea with pearlmillet was effective in managing the spotted pod borer. Coccinellids and spiders were more in intercropped pigeonpea than the sole pigeonpea crop. Synchronized flowering times of short duration pigeonpea and intercrops would have facilitated the transfer of natural enemies from intercrops to pigeonpea and this may be the one of the reasons for the lower insect population. IPM module I (pigeonpea intercropped with pearlmillet, NSKE and indoxacarb sprays) was effective in reducing the spotted pod borer damage. In IPM module I, yield of 770 kg/ha was obtained as against 550 kg/ha in sole pigeonpea crop. Among the IPM modules, high B:C ratio of 1:1.66 was recorded with IPM module I.</div>

​​Habitat Manipulation: An Important Component of IPM in the Management of Webbing Caterpillar, Maruca vitrata (Geyer) in Pigeonpea

<div style="text-align: justify;">Soil organic carbon is strongly affected by agricultural management practices. Cropping systems can influence the amount of carbon present in soil. Increase in SOC can be related with the choice of crops present in the cropping sequence as well as on the management practices followed. The present study was undertaken to quantify the changes in soil carbon stock under different cropping systems. Two major cropping systems i.e. pearlmillet-wheat and pearlmillet-mustard were selected in Mewat, Haryana while soybean-wheat cropping systems was identified in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh. Results showed that SOC of surface soil layer decreased from 0.42% to 0.39% in pearlmillet-mustard cropping system during the study period. But in soybean-wheat cropping system it increased from 1.14% to 1.24%. Legume based cropping system showed enhancement of surface soil carbon.&nbsp;</div>

Changes in soil carbon stock in Mewat and Dhar under cereal and legume based cropping systems&nbsp;

<div>Background:&nbsp;Ecological maneuvering of major sucking insect pests of cowpea, [Vigna unguiculata (Linn.) Walp.] at the micro level was aimed through various agronomic techniques. The tactics of appropriate intercropping is gaining thrust in the present scenario in overall strategy of insect pest management.&nbsp; 
 
Methods:&nbsp;The experiment was conducted during kharif, 2018 in a randomized block design (RBD) with 5 treatments and 4 replications. The populations of major sucking insect pests were recorded at weekly interval from their appearance till harvesting of the cropearly in the morning of 10 cm terminal shoot for aphid and from three leaves, viz., one each from top, middle and lower canopy of the plant for leafhopper and whitefly. 
 
Result:&nbsp;The experiment on cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (Linn.) Walp.] grown along with, pearlmillet [Penisetum glucum (Linn.) R.Br.emend stunntz] sesame, (Sesamum indicum) sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and cluster bean (Cyamopsis tetragonloba) as intercrops showed reduced population of sucking insect pests (aphid, Aphis craccivora Koch, leafhopper, Empoasca fabae (Harris) and whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Genn.) over the sole crop (cowpea), cowpea with pearlmillet and sorghum combinations proved significantly less conducive to aphid, leafhopper and whitefly infestation as compared to other intercrops.</div>

Effect of Various Intercrops on the Incidence of Major Sucking Insect Pests of Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (Linn.) Walp]

A field experiment was conducted during rabi seasons of 2012-13 and 2013-14 to study the effect of moisture conservation and zinc fertilization on quality, nutrient uptake, profitability and moisture use indices of chickpea in pearlmillet-chickpea cropping sequence under limited moisture conditions. Moisture conservation and zinc fertilization brought considerable improvement in quality, nutrient uptake, profitability and moisture use indices of chickpea during both the years of study. Chickpea planted under flat bed with 5.0 t/ha crop residue recorded significantly higher protein yield and total uptake of N, P and K during both the years of study as compared to flat bed without crop residue and flat bed with 2.5 t/ha crop residue. However, in terms of protein content during 2012-13 and soil profile temperature during both the years all the treatments received crop residue remained at par with each other and proved significantly superior over flat bed without crop residue. Planting of chickpea under narrow bed and furrow fetched significantly higher net returns ( &nbsp; 55,871 and 55,263/ha) and production efficiency ( &nbsp; &nbsp;372.5 and 337.0/ha/day) and moisture use efficiency (12.34 and 11.05 kg/ha-mm) during both the years of study over flat bed without crop residue and flat bed with 2.5 t/ha crop residue. Whereas, this treatment recorded significantly higher B:C ratio over flat bed with 5.0 t/ha crop residue. Under zinc fertilization, direct application of 5.0 kg Zn/ha significantly improved the protein content in grain during 2013-14 and protein yield, total uptake of N and P, net returns and production efficiency during both the years of investigation over lower levels. But application of 5.0 and 2.5 kg Zn/ha being at par with each other proved significantly better over control in terms of protein content during 2012-13 and total uptake of P, B:C ratio and moisture use efficiency of chickpea during both the years. Residual effect of zinc fertilization was also found to be significant on chickpea. The significant improvement in quality, nutrient uptake, profitability and moisture use efficiency were observed only up to 2.5 kg Zn/ha.&nbsp;

Moisture conservation and zinc fertilization impacts on quality, profitability and moisture use indices of chickpea (Cicer Arietinum L.) under&nbsp;limited moisture conditions&nbsp;

<div>Background: Mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek], also known as green gram is cultivated on area of 4.75 million ha in kharif and rabi/ spring seasons as monocrop or intercrop in India. It serves as a major source of dietary protein for the vast majority of vegetarian people in the country. Mungbean contributed 10.03 per cent of total pulses production (23.40 million tonnes) in the country with productivity level of 494 kg ha-1 in 2018-19. The pulses cultivation in Haryana is almost eliminated in kharif season owing to deviation of area towards cotton, cluster bean and pearlmillet because of low profitability. However, the new window opens for cultivation of mungbean in rice-wheat cropping system in summer season to generate additional farm income and to improve soil health. The area under summer mungbean in state was around 64 thousand ha with the production of 50 thousand tonnes and the average productivity of 780 kg/ha during 2017-18. Although rice-wheat system provides better farm returns, but it has imposed threat to soil health, availability and contamination of ground water, weed and biotic stress management.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The data &nbsp;pertains to costs and returns from &nbsp;summer mungbean cultivation was gathered from &nbsp;60 mungbean cultivators of Hisar, Kurukshetra and Panipat districts of Haryana having adequate irrigation water availability adopting personal interaction approach in 2018-19. Simple budgeting technique was employed to draw practical implications which ultimately help to take favourable policy decisions for enhancing acreage of summer mungbean. 
 
Result: The inquiry profound that mungbean cultivation in summer season particularly in rice-wheat was established as additional income generation farm enterprise. The net benefits accrued from short duration varieties of mungbean over variable cost was Rs. 31831 ha-1 &nbsp;with time span of 60-70 days by utilizing fallow land in summer season. The B-C ratio toiled considering expenses incurred on variable resources with value of 2.99 divulges economic viability of mungbean cultivation in the study area. It is imperative from results that cultivation of short duration cultivars of mungbean is viable option to enhance farm income, restoration of diminishing soil fertility owing to adoption of continuous rice-wheat rotation by inherent characteristics of converting atmospheric nitrogen. Distinctive efforts are essential to evolve mungbean cultivars suitable to prevailing cropping system in Haryana and assure market procurement. The exploration of mungbean cultivation will reduce dependency on import and improve net availability of pulses in India.</div>

<div>Additional Income Generation from Cultivation of Summer Mungbean in Rice-Wheat System of Haryana</div>

The 27 accessions of &nbsp;pearl millet of African origin were studied during kharif 2013 and 2014 in a randomized complete block design in the hot arid climate of Rajasthan. The study was conducted to assess the magnitude of presence &nbsp;of genetic variability and associations among characters &nbsp;namely, grain yield per plant (gm.), number of tillers per plant, plant height (cm), panicle length (cm), panicle diameter (cm), number of leaves per plant, days to 50% flowering and test weight(gm.). The result showed that genetic variability was present among the accessions for all studied characters. The estimated PCV (%) and GCV (%) were high for all characters. The broad sense heritability (%) and genetic advance (% of &nbsp;mean) estimates were also high for all studied characters. The number of tillers per plant, &nbsp;panicle length (cm), panicle diameter (cm) and days to 50% flowering had &nbsp;positive and significant genotypic, phenotypic and environmental correlation coefficients with grain yield per plant. &nbsp;The presence of genetic variability, high heritability and genetic advance and association with grain yield of &nbsp;number of tillers per plant, &nbsp;panicle length (cm), panicle diameter (cm) and days to 50% flowering &nbsp;amenable them for selection and enhancement of grain yield.&nbsp;

Crop Geometry and Intercropping of Legume and Oilseed in Irrigated Pearlmillet

Effect of Moisture Conservation Practices and Zinc Fertilization on Nutrient Status and Quality of Pearlmillet Pennisetum glaucum (L.) under Rainfed Condition

Effect of Moisture Conservation Practices on Growth and Yield of Pearlmillet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br. emend Stuntz] Hybrids

Impact of Cropping Systems and Resource Conservation Techniques on Productivity and Profitability of Systems

Habitat Manipulation: An Important Component of IPM in the Management of Webbing Caterpillar, Maruca vitrata (Geyer) in Pigeonpea

Changes in soil carbon stock in Mewat and Dhar under cereal and legume based cropping systems

Effect of Various Intercrops on the Incidence of Major Sucking Insect Pests of Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (Linn.) Walp]

Moisture conservation and zinc fertilization impacts on quality, profitability and moisture use indices of chickpea (Cicer Arietinum L.) under limited moisture conditions

Additional Income Generation from Cultivation of Summer Mungbean in Rice-Wheat System of Haryana

Analysis of genetic variability and correlation among traits in exotic germplasm of pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.]