Real Time Contingency Measures to Cope with Rainfall Variability in Southern Karnataka

Real time contingency practices viz., selection of varieties, date of sowing, method of crop establishment, soil and moisture conservation practices were demonstrated in the Chikkamaranahalli cluster villages, Bengaluru rural district of Karnataka during 2011 to 2014. Selection of long duration variety (MR-1) for July sowing, medium duration (GPU-28) for August 1^st fortnight and short duration (GPU-48) for August 2^nd fort night performed better. In-situ conservation moisture through opening of conservation furrow between paired rows of pigeonpea under finger millet + pigeonpea (8: 2) and groundnut + pigeonpea (8: 2) recorded significantly higher yields (2749 kg/ha and 1347 kg/ha, respectively) compared to farmers’ practice. Among different methods of establishment in finger millet, transplanting recorded significantly higher grain yield (2461 kg/ha) and sowing of finger millet using modified bullock drawn seed drill recorded significantly higher yield (2417 kg/ha) compared to conventional method of broadcasting.