Effect of rain water conservation practices on productivity and water use efficiency of Pearlmillet (Pennisetum glaucum) under rainfed condition

A field experiment was carried out during kharif season of 2012 and 2013 at Kanpur, India to find out the low cost rain water conservation practices on productivity of pearlmillet Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] under rainfed condition. The experiment comprised of seven rain water conservation practices, viz. compartmental bunding (CB), deep ploughing (DP), raised and sunken beds (R&S), inter-row water harvesting (IRWH), inter-paired row water harvesting (IPRWH), micro Jalkund (MJ) and flat bed sowing (FB) (control) assigned in randomized block design with three replications. The results revealed that yield attributing characters (length of ear head, weight ear¹ and 1000-grain weight) and grain yield produced significantly higher values in IPRWH which resulted in 32.08% higher grain yield over the control plots. Lowest values of these characters were recorded in flat bed (control) sowing method. The rain water use efficiency (RWUE) was obtained in the range of 6.84 to 9.07 kg ha⁻¹ mm⁻¹. The maximum RWUE recorded in IPRWH and lowest in flat bed treatment. The same trend of RWUE was found in economics, viz. net return and B:C ratio. However, crop water use was highest in flat bed or control (372.0 mm) and lowest in IPRWH (313.0 mm).