Integrated nutrient management in oat (Avena sativa L.) under reclaimed sodic soil

Oat (Avena sativa L.) is used as a green fodder, straw, hay or silage. A field experiment was carried out during 2008–2009 with the concept of integrated nutrient management at Aurawan Research Centre of CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow. The treatments of the experiments were T₁-Control, T₂-NPK (80: 40: 40 kg ha⁻¹), T₃-1/2 NPK (40: 20: 20 kg ha⁻¹) + FYM (10t ha⁻¹), T₄-1/2 NPK + FYM (10t ha⁻¹) + Trichoderma, T₅-1/2 NPK + FYM (10t ha⁻¹) + PSB and T₆-1/2 NPK + FYM (10t ha⁻¹) + Trichoderma + PSB with 4 replications in randomized block design (RBD). Results indicated that all the treatment showed significant response over control. Maximum plant height at 120 days (157.7 cm), tillersplant⁻¹ at 90 days (6.4), length of spike (38.7 cm), test weight (28.6 g), grain yield (34.9 q ha⁻¹), straw yield (82.8 q ha⁻¹) were recorded with T₂-NPK (80: 40: 40 kg ha⁻¹) which was significantly higher than all the treatments except T₃-1/2 NPK (40: 20: 20 kg ha⁻¹) + FYM (10t ha⁻¹) and T₄-1/2 NPK + FYM (10t ha⁻¹) + Trichoderma, followed by treatment T₆-1/2 NPK + FYM (10t ha⁻¹) + Trichoderma + PSB showing the value of plant height at 120 days (154.8 cm), tillers/plant at 90 days (6.3), length of spike (37.6 cm), test weight (28.3 g), grain yield (33.1 q ha⁻¹) and straw yield (81.1 q ha⁻¹). Seed treatment with PSB (T5) also responded significantly over control in all the parameters and remained at par with T₂ and T₆. However, combined seed treatment with PSB + Trichoderma (T6) was much effective in comparison to single inoculation of Trichoderma or PSB.