Effect of irrigation and silicon on growth, yield and water use efficiency of summer pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.)

Application of silicon (Si) greatly boost yield and mitigate abiotic stress, especially drought or water stress. The present investigation entitled “Effect of irrigation and silicon on growth, yield and water use efficiency of summer pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.)” was carried out during summer season of 2023 at S. D. Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design with three replications, consisting of twelve treatment combinations comprising three irrigation levels in main plot i.e., I1: 0.6 IW/CPE, I2: 0.8 IW/CPE and I3: 1.0 IW/CPE as main plot treatments and four silicon levels i.e., S0: Control, S1: Silicon @ 50 kg/ha, S2: Silicon @ 100 kg/ha, S2: Silicon @ 150 kg/ha as sub plot treatments. All growth traits, yield components and grain and straw yield of summer pearl millet was increased significantly with at each higher level of irrigation scheduling up to 1.0 IW/CPE ratio with water application of 600 mm along with soil application of silicon @ 100 kg/ha. The interaction between irrigation scheduling and silicon levels was found to be significant. The higher field water use efficiency (7.51 and 7.44 kg/ha-mm) was recorded at 0.6 IW/CPE ratio with 400 mm consumptive use of water and application of silicon @ 150 kg/ha, respectively. Grain yield with silicon at different irrigation levels i.e. 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 IW/CPE ratio followed linear function with regression coefficient (R2) of 0.85, 0.98, 0.99 respectively.