Production performance of high yielding variety of finger millet in Erode district of Tamil Nadu

An attempt was made to identify suitable high yielding variety of finger millet (Eleusine coracana) for western zone of Tamil Nadu through on-farm trials in Erode district of Tamil Nadu during 2020-2021. The trials comprised high yielding finger millet variety ATL 1, seed treatment with biofertilizers and other integrated crop management practices. The variety ATL 1 had higher number of tillers per plant (8.3) as compared to ML 365 (7.8) and test weight per plant (3.16 g) as against 3.10 g in ML 365. Higher grain and fodder yield of 2,984 and 6,351 kg per ha respectively was also observed in ATL 1 as compared to 2,619 and 5,526 kg per ha respectively in ML 365. The average cost of cultivation of ATL 1 was Rs 25,190.00 per ha, whereas, it was Rs 27,050.00 per ha in farmers’ practicing variety ML 365. The improved crop management practices and the high yielding variety recorded the higher net return of Rs 36,732.00 per ha as against Rs 27,949.00 per ha in farmers’ practicing variety. Thus higher benefit-cost ratio of 2.46 was observed in ATL 1 variety in comparison to 2.04 in ML 365. There existed an extension gap 365 kg per ha between the improved variety ATL 1 and farmers’ practicing variety ML 365 and the technology gap was of 116 kg per ha. The lower value of the technology index of 3.74 per cent showed the higher feasibility of the variety ATL 1 and adoption of improved package of practices.