Effect of different nutrient management practices on growth, yield attributes and yield of Niger in Eastern Ghat high land agro climatic zone of Odisha

Niger (Guizotia abyssinica (L.f.) Cass), a minor oil seed crop is generally cultivated in marginal and sub marginal lands under poor agronomic practices without application of nutrients which causes great losses in its yield. However, the crop has high yield potential if recommended agronomic package of practices are followed. In view of this, a field experiment was carried out under All India Coordinated Research Project on Niger at Regional Research and Technology Transfer Station (OUAT), S. Emiliguda, Odisha during kharif 2023 to study the effect of different nutrient management practices on growth, yield attributes and yield of Niger in eastern Ghat high land agro-climatic zone of Odisha. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with nine treatments replicated thrice viz, T1: Control, T2: 50% RDF + Azotobacter (10 ml kg-1)+ PSB (10 ml kg-1), T3: 75% RDF + Azotobacter (10 ml kg-1) + PSB (10 ml kg-1), T4: 50% RDF + Vermicompost (2.5 t ha-1) + PSB (10 ml kg-1), T5: 75% RDF + Vermicompost (2.5 t ha-1) + PSB (10 ml kg-1), T6: 50% RDF + Vermicompost (2.5 t ha-1) + Azotobacter (10 ml kg-1) + PSB (10 ml kg-1), T7: 75% RDF + Vermicompost (2.5 t ha-1) + Azotobacter (10 ml kg-1) + PSB (10 ml kg-1), T8: 50% RDF + Neem seed cake (2.5 t ha-1) + Azotobacter (10 ml kg-1) + PSB (10 ml kg-1), T9: 75% RDF + Neem seed cake (2.5 t ha-1) + Azotobacter (10 ml kg-1) + PSB (10 ml kg-1). The result of the experiment revealed that 75% RDF + Vermicompost + Azotobacter + PSB recorded higher growth attributes, yield attributes and seed yield of 764.1 kg ha-1 and remained at par with 75% RDF + Vermicompost + PSB (752.3 kg ha-1) and 75% RDF + Neem seed cake + Azotobacter + PSB (739.6 kg ha-1) and significantly different from rest of the treatments.