Effect of seedling age on the growth and yield of transplanted barnyard millet (Echninochloa frumentacea) under irrigated condition

A field experiment was conducted at Central Farm, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai, during kharif 2014 under irrigated condition to find out optimum age of seedling for transplanting to increase the productivity of underutilised barnyard millet. The experiment was laid out in split plot design and replicated thrice to fulfil the statistical requirements. The treatment combinations comprising of a cultivar (' (KV) 2') with new culture ('ACM10145') as main plot treatments, three different ages of seedlings (14, 21 and 28 days old) as sub-plot treatments were executed for the field study. The crop was fertilized with 44:22:0 kg NPK ha^-1. Full doses of fertilizers were applied as basal at the time of transplanting. All the crop husbandry practices were followed as per recommendation. The results of the study revealed that both the cultivars exhibited comparable growth and grain yield. With respect to age of seedlings tried, the growth attributes viz., plant height, dry matter production and leaf area index were maximum under 21-day-old seedlings when compared to 14- and 28-day-old seedlings. Similarly the yield attributes of barnyard millet were significantly influenced by the age of seedling and transplanting done with 21-day-old seedlings recorded a higher number of productive tillers, higher panicle length, panicle weight and test weight which resulted in higher grain yield. Transplanting 21-day-old seedlings registered 11 and 15% more grain yield than seedlings transplanted at 14 and 28 days.