Effect of Different Levels of Borax and Gypsum on Soil Chemical Properties and Yield of Finger Millet (Eleusine corocana L) in Southern Dry Zone of Karnataka

A field experiment was carried out in Kharif 2016 on B-deficient sandy loam soil at College of Agriculture, VC Farm, Mandya to study the effect of graded levels borax (5, 10, 15 and 20 kg ha1) and gypsum (100 and 200 kg ha-1) on yield and soil chemical properties of irrigated finger millet (Eleusine corocana L.) in Southern Dry Zone of Karnataka. A significantly higher grain yield of 45.95 q ha-1 (17.56% higher than the control) and a B:C ratio of 3.06 were also recorded at T12 compared with RDF + FYM (T1). Due to application of borax and gypsum, the pH, EC, and organic carbon content in soil during flowering stage and at crop harvest were non-significant. However, at the flowering and harvest of the crop, the T4 treatment had the lowest pH (7.49 and 7.43, respectively), whereas the T12 (flowering stage) and T10 (after harvest) treatments had the highest pH (7.65 and 7.67, respectively). Higher soil NPK values were detected in all treatments at flowering stage compared to after the crop was harvested. Application of borax 10kg ha-1 + 100 kg gypsum ha-1 along with RDF and FYM had a significantly higher exchangeable calcium content after harvest (6.77 cmol kg-1) than T1 (5.23 cmol kg-1). Sulphur content in soil at flowering stage and after harvest of crop was found to be significant among the treatments due to application of different levels of gypsum. High levels of borax applied treatments, i. e. T5 (T1+20 kg borax ha-1) and T15 (T5 + 200 kg gypsum ha-1) recorded significantly higher content of B at flowering stage (4.18 and 4.09 mg kg-1, respectively) and at harvest of crop (3.88 and 3.68 mg kg-1, respectively) when compared to T1 (1.32 and 1.16 mg kg-1, respectively). Therefore finger millet absorption of boron may be reduced by using borax with a greater dosage of gypsum (200 kg ha-1). As a result, optimising the Ca/B ratio in the soil and plant is critical for increasing irrigated finger millet yields.