Impact of cluster frontline demonstration (CFLD) on yield improvement of mustard crop in Koderma district of Chhota Nagpur Plateau of Jharkhand

The present study was conducted in Koderma district in Chhota Nagpur Plateau of Jharkhand situated at Central North-Eastern Plateau at 275-670 m above mean-sea level where average annual rainfall was 1198.35 mm during the years 2021 and 2022 in Koderma district Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Koderma, Jharkhand conducted 308 Cluster Front Line Demonstrations on Mustard crop in an area of 80 ha under rain fed condition in the farmer’s fields of the selected villages viz. Chehal, Gopaldih and Sardarodih of Koderma Jharkhand. The objective of the CFLD was to transfer the technology to increase the productivity and quality of mustard crop. Various types of interventions viz., Varietal replacement, Seed treatment, time of sowing, Plant Protection measures, Irrigation management and INM. High yielding Mustard variety Pusa Mustard-30 (PM-30) was given to the farmers and for basal application 120 kg N, 60 kg P₂O₅, 30 kg K₂O and 20 kg S per hectare as per recommendation in demonstration plots were advised. The seed was treated with fungicide before sowing. It was observed that in cluster front line demonstrations, the improved Mustard variety Pusa Mustard-30 recorded an average yield of 985 and 1290 kg/ha which was much higher than the average yield of farmers practice 680 and 700 kg/ha, respectively during 2021-22 and 2022-2023 The average percentage increase in the yield over farmer’s practices was 44.85 and 84.28 for the year 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, respectively. The technology gap was found 916 kg to 611 kg over the potential yield. The highest extension gap of 590 kg/ha was recorded in 2022-2023 and the lowest was observed 305 kg/ ha in 2021-2022. From these results, it is evident that the performance of improved variety was found better than the local check under the same environmental conditions.