Ragi by Deepika Chindi

FINGER MILLET (RAGI) FLORAL BIOLOGY , BREEDING METHODS AND SEED PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY.

 .Contents:  INTRODUCTION  BOTONICAL DISCRIPTION  BREEDING TECHNIQUES  NUCLEUS AND BREEDER SEED PRODUCTION IN RAGI  SEED PRODUCTION IN RAGI  REVIEWS  REFERENCES

Finger millet

 INTRODUCTION:  Finger millet or ragi (Eleusine coracana) Is a robust tufted annual with a height of 60-120 cm and essentially a self pollinated crop.  The extent of out crossing is less than 1% . This is an advantageous feature during seed production in ensuring high level of genetic purity .  Finger millet is the most widely grown small millet in the world.  Ranks fourth among the millets of the world.  Important staple food crop in East and Central Africa and in India.  Grown in uplands of India, China and Africa.

Contd…  Ragi has a wide range of adaptation to soil, however, it is frequently associated with lateritic soils being mainly grown on red, light red, light black and sandy loams.  The grain is very highly resistant to storage insect pests, even without any special care or attention. It is reputed to remain in good condition even when stored as long as fifty years (Ayyangar, 1972). Digests easily from infancy through old age, and its nutrients are highly absorbed.  Easy cultivation, low input requirements, free from major pests / diseases, rejuvenating capacity after alleviation of stress conditions. It is used for malting and brewing.

Continue..  Typically a tropical crop, one of the best suited for dry farming, generally grown rain fed.

 Ragi is very adaptable higher elevations than most other tropical cereals.  Cultivated on soils ranging from rich loams to poor shallow upland soils.  In India, grown on black cotton soils, but thrives on red lateritic loams. Ragi stands salinity better than most cereals.

 .ORIGIN AND DESCRIPTION :  Primary center of origin Ethiopia and highlands of Africa.  Secondary center of origin is India .  major producers are Uganda, India, Nepal and China.  In India it is grown in KA, TN, AP, Orissa, Bihar, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Various

coracana.

Particulars

Ragi

(finger

 In India Finger millet is know as Ragi.

millets)

Eleusine

South africa

india

Area, production and productivity of finger millet in India (2008-2009) Area (000 hectares) 50

Production (000 tons) 52

Average productivity (Kg/hectare) 1040

11 19 12

9 20 9

816 1053 702

Karnataka

841

1394

1658

Maharashtra

126

125

992

Orissa Sikkim Tamil Nadu

65 4 90

41 4 1709

624 886 1887

Uttarakhand

135

193

1430

Uttar Pradesh

1333

West Bengal

1157

Others Total

14 1381

7 2040

500 1477

State Andhra Pradesh Bihar Gujarat Jharkhand

. Nutrition:

 Finger millet is especially valuable as it contains the amino acid methionine.  which is lacking in the diets of hundreds of millions of the poor who live on starchy staples such as cassava, plantain, polished rice, or maize meal. Finger millet can be ground and cooked into cakes, porridge.  The grain is made into a fermented drink (or beer) in Nepal and in many parts of Africa.  The straw from finger millet is used as animal fodder. It is also used for as a flavored drink in festivals.

 .Nutritional value of Finger Miller per 100g         

Protein : Fat : Carbohydrate : Calcium: Vitamins – A: Thiamine (B1): Riboflavin (B2): Niacin: Fiber :

7.6g 1.5g 88g 370mg 0.48mg 0.33mg 0.11mg 1.2mg 3g

Finger millet cookies(Ragi biscuits )

Steamed Sweet Finger Millet Crumb

Ragi(Finger Millet) & Besan(Split Chick Pea Flour) Poori

Ragi porridge

Ragi mudde

cake

burfi

Ragi halwa

Ragi puttu

 .BOTONICAL DESCRIPTION          

Kingdom: Plantae Subkingdom: Tracheobionta Super division : Spermatophyta Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Liliopsida Subclass: Commelinidae Order: Cyperales Family: Poaceae Genus : Eleusine Gaertn Species: coracana (L.) Gaertn.

S N; Eleusine coracana

Finger millet

ď ą .DIFFERENT SPECIES.

Diploid species (2n=18) 1. Eleusine indica 2. Eleusine oligostachya 3. E.tristachya 4. E. poranansis 5. E. jaegeri 6. E. flacifolia

Tetraploid species.

(2n=36)

1. Eleusine coracana

2 3. 4. 5.

E. E. E. E.

africana Longipoides verticillata cagopoides

There are two cultivated types of ragi.

Eleusine coracana

ď&#x192;&#x2DC;

Indian ragi (2n = 4x = 36) E. coracana (tetraploids) - Short fingers, small grains, photo insensitive.

ď&#x192;&#x2DC; African ragi ( 2n = 4x = 36) E. africana (tetraploids) It has long fingers, bold grain, stiff straw, photosensitive and uneven grain maturity phase.

Eleusine africana

ď ą .Description ď&#x192;&#x2DC; Annual grass; culms erect, laterally flattened, 60-120 cm tall or long, profusely tillering, plants often lodged or prostrate; root system fibrous and remarkably strong, permeating soil thoroughly, inflorescence a whorl of 2-8 (normally 4-6), digitate, straight, or slightly curved spikes 12.5-15 cm long, about 1.3 cm broad; spikelets about 70, arranged alternately on rachis, each containing 4-7 seeds, varying from 1-2 mm in diameter; seed is smooth , reddish-brown to nearly white or black.

spike

stem leaves roots

Cont…..  Culm : Compressed and culms are typically green in colour. Culm nodes are glabrous. Culm internodes solid or hollow.  Leaf sheath : Leaf sheaths are prominently flattened.  Leaf blade : Leaf blades linear, narrow, flat or folded, without cross veination.

1, stem part with leaves; 2, inflorescence; 3, part of inflorescence branch; 4, spikelet; 5, floret without lemma and palea; 6, grain within lemma and palea; 7, grain.

FLORAL BIOLOGY  Inflorescence : It consists of a group of digitally arranged spikes in a terminal umbel form.  Spikelet : Spikelets are strongly compressed laterally, curved into two over lapping rows on the outer sides of the spike.  Each spikelet has 4-6 flowers, flowers per ear head 1500 – 3000.

stigma

 Lemma : Pointed, awnless, hairless. stamens

Lemma ,palea

 Palea : Present,awnless.  Lodicules : Present and two in number joined or free, fleshy.

glumes

 Glumes : Two, more or less equal. Lower glume 1 nerved.

Cont….

 Stamen: Flower contains 3 stamens, short anthers and long filament.  Pistil: Ovary glabrous. Styles free to their bases. Branched stigma with white or brown in colour.  Fruit : The grains are globose.

Dissected finger millet

ď&#x192;&#x2DC; Terminal whorl bearing 2 to 8, but averaging 5 or 6 spikes arranged like a birds foot at the top of the peduncle. ď&#x192;&#x2DC; The lowest spike is separated by 2 to 5 cm from the other spikes and which arise from the same point at the end of the stem

Contd…. In each finger there are about 70 spikelet's, each spikelet having five to seven complete flowers.

 An ear head contains 1,500 to 3,000 flowers.

Inflorescence types OPEN TYPE

TOP INCURVED

INCURVED TYPE

Anthesis ď&#x192;&#x2DC;An thesis commences from top spikelet and progress downwards. Each spikelet contains 5 to 7 flowers, the opening of the florets starts from bottom to top. ď&#x192;&#x2DC;One floret in the spikelet opens per day. ď&#x192;&#x2DC;Flowering takes place simultaneously in all fingers.

Cont….  Complete emergence of the inflorescence requires 7 -8 days.



Depending upon will vary Compact : Fisty Open

the ear shape –Flower opening period 2-3 a.m. : 3-5 a.m. : 1-2 a.m.

Pollen viability is very short, 10 – 15 min.

 Anthers require about 45 minutes for dehiscence after emergence  The stigma is receptive for about five minutes.  Self pollination is the general rule because the period of anthesis is very short.  Cross fertilization by wind and insects is less than 1 per cent.

SEED It is a naked seed ; botanically the seed is called utricle .the seed has thin papery pericarp . Sometimes it may or may not be attached with the seed .  ragi is small rounded with 2mm diameter and usually dull red in color. About 400-500 seeds weigh one gram. The pericarp can be removed from the seed easily.

Breeding Goals  To enhance the productivity.  Improving the quality of the grains.  To develop genotypes resistance to biotic and abiotic stress.  Early maturity.  Agronomic characteristics:1.Height: Medium 50-75cm is best.

Breeding methods  Introduction Inter state- Indaf 5 and sarada from Karnataka.  Pure line selection Paiyur 1 from the base material PR 722

 Mutation Breeding Hagari 1( H1) [From Gidda Aryam] (gama rays) Shubra[ Mutant from Co 9 ] (gama rays)  Hybridization followed by selection CO 6 [EC 1540 X EC 2945] Poorna [ Co 1 X Aruna ] Indaf 8 [ Cauvery X IE 927 ] Indaf 9[K1 X IE 980 R ]

Some mutant varieties. SI.NO

MUTANT VARIETY

ORIGINAL VARIETY

MUTAGEN USED

PLACE

Dibya Sin ha

Sarada

Orissa

CO- 3

CO -1

Tamil Nadu

B -11

57-A-3

Gama rays

Hamsa

Gama rays

Annapurna

Cauvery

_ _

Maharashtra _

GERMPLASM.  At the ICRISAT gene bank.

 5949 finger millet germplasm accessions from 24 countries are conserved for use in research and development. Dr. Vandana Shiva among the fingermillet atNavdanya's Seed Bank in Dehradun, India.

SELFING AND CROSSING TECHNIQUES SELFING TECHNIQUE: The panicle before commencing an thesis is covered with paper cover.  Retained till the blooming is over.

EMASCULATION.  It is nothing but the process of removal of male part from the flower.  In Ragi, two methods of Emasculation are being followed. 1. Hand Emasculation. 2. Hot Water Treatment.

Hand emasculation  Selection of panicles and florets that would open the next day.  Selected panicle is covered by a polythene bag after spraying the plant with cold water and fixed air tight.  The glumes slowly open and expose the premature anthers and pistil.  The 3 anthers can be carefully removed, without injuring the stigmatic lobes.  The emasculated panicle is sprinkled with cold water to prevent drying of the pistil.  In the male parent, the panicles that would open the next day are cut and tied to the emasculated seed parent and covered by a butter paper bag.

Hot water treatment  Plants likely to flower during the next 2-3 days are selected  Hot water treatment at 520C for 2 minutes was the best as judged from the percentage of seed-set.  Three fingers retained in the panicle are immersed into thermo flask containing hot water for different period.  Then the spikelet's are pollinated early in the morning.  The male parent, that would open the next day are tied to the emasculated seed parent and covered by a butter paper bag.

Hot water treatment

Contact method The reason for using contact techniques are as follows:  Autogamous nature of crops with very small florets.  Anthesis takes place in the very early hours of the day.  The pollen is viable for a short period.

Procedure

 Planting date is adjusted so as to synchronize flowering of male and female parents.  Selection of proper stage – just flowered at tip of ear.  Prepare ear and remaining portion of the finger and immature portion of the ear are removed with scissors. Retain only 2 or 3 fingers.  Select male ear which is similar in condition of flowering / just flowered.  Surround two female fingers with all male fingers very loosely and tie it in such a way to allow proper aeration.  Remove the thread after complete flowering of the ear.  Tag the crossed ear head for identification and collecting the seeds.  Contact method (Karnataka) has been successfully utilised for crossing and the varieties developed are GPU 26, GPU 28and GPU 48.

Constraints in hybridization  All small millets have small florets which are not amenable for easy hand emasculation and hybridization.  The floral morphology and breeding behaviour of most of the millets make them more difficult species to work with.  Nearly all the millet cultivars grown were the result of selection from land races rather than designed crosses and selections.

CULTIVATION:  Eleusine coracana is

often intercropped with legumes such as peanuts (Arachis hypogea), cowpeas (Vigna sinensis), and pigeon peas (Cajanus cajan), or other plants such as Niger seeds (Guizotia abyssinica)

 Although statistics on individual millet species are confused, and are sometimes combined with sorghum.  It is estimated that finger millet is grown on approximately 38,000 km2.  India is a major cultivator of finger millet with a total cultivated area of 15870 km2  The state of Karnataka is the leading producer of finger millet, known as Ragi in the region, accounting for 58% of India's Ragi production.]

Intercropping of mulberry with Finger millet.

ragi as a strip crop in groundnut.

â&#x20AC;˘ Mixed cropping (Ragi, Pigeon pea, castor and winged bean)

Fields of finger millet in the Annapurna-region of Nepal.

Step 1

General scheme of nucleus seed production in Ragi Release and notification of a variety Grow 3000-5000 plants

Select 100-200 single ears from the main tiller of true to type plants for ear to row evaluation. The number to be decided based on SMF and nuclear seed requirement.

S t e p 2

Grow ear to row progeny of selected single plants 20-30 plants in each row must be grown. Mark rows having all plant similar to the released variety for all DUS characters. Progenies showing variation should be rejected. Step 3 Nucleus seed production using remnant seed

Nucleus seed stock

Breeder seed productio n

Follow required isolation for the crop

Thresh the single ears separately, study for seed morphology and for other distinct seed characters.

Retain part of the seed. Discard any rows showing deviation from the released variety Remnant seeds of marked /selected rows be bulked The bulk seed of the selected rows could be harvested and used as nucleus seed and nuclear seed requirement could be high. Use the remnant seed for further nucleus seed production.

Raised in the research farm by the breeder

NUCLEUS SEED PRODUCTION :  As already mentioned the very high self pollinated nature of these crops is an advantage during seed production in ensuring high level of genetic purity .  In view of its very high inbreeding nature the required isolation distance is less, around 3-5 meters .  Nucleus seed is the first stage in the seed multiplication chain of a released variety and is the only seed used produce its own seed class .  To produce nucleus seed of a variety the basic maintained by the breeder is the pre requisite .  nucleus seed is directly produced by original plant breeders and required to have sent percent genetic purity .  Although ragi is highly self pollinated ,it desirable to self individual panicle of selected single plants in the first stage of nucleus seed production .

BREEDER SEED PRODUCTION :



Breeder seed is produced from the nucleus seeds stock production is supervised by either original breeder or sponsor plant breeder .



Breeder must have maximum genetic purity and form the material for production of other classes of seeds in the seed chain .



In case of breeder seed of more than 1 variety is produced ,a minimum isolation distance of 5 mtrs should be followed.

Maintenance of genetic purity in breeder seed plots:  Being a highly self pollinated crop maintenance of genetic purity is not difficult as long as basic principles of seed production are adopted .  The problem of genetic purity some time arises because of voluntary plants coming from previous year crop so we should know the preceding crop requirement .  Breeder seed production should receive adequate attention during field preparation ,irrigation and crop protection to obtain a good quality seed.

 Seed multiplication ratio: •

Under good management seed multiplication ratio goes up to 1:500

 Storability of seeds: •

Seeds can remain viable for 2-3 years even in ambient conditions.

•

In storage condition temperature and humidity have controlled the seed viability easily gets prolonged to 5-10 years .

•

These advantages should be harnessed while producing nucleus or breeder seed production and these can be stored 5 years or even more depending upon kind of storage facilities available Thus avoiding every year seed production helpful in saving manpower and in minimizing the cost of seed produced.

SEED PRODUCTION: FINGER MILLET Climate Ragi is an all season crop and is grown mainly in the tropics.  It requires a well distributed rainfall (i.e. annual rainfall 600-800mm) during growing season with an absence of prolonged droughts.  Crop grows well, where the average maximum temperature exceeds 27°C.  Regions of high humidity are not suitable for its cultivation.

Soil The crop is grown on a variety of soils, but reasonably fertile and free draining sandy loam soils are preferred. Ragi cannot tolerate water logging. It thrives best on red lateritic loams.

Varieties

Sl No.

Name of the crop/variety

Year of release

National /State level

Adaptation zone

Special features

Indaf 7

1986

State

Karnataka

Indaf 8

1986

State

Karnataka

Indaf 9

1986

State

Karnataka

HR 911

1986

State

Karnataka

Cold tolerant, suitable for rabi season Late variety suitable for early kharif planting. Early variety, suitable for late kharif planting as well as for summer season Tall erect plant type, long fingers with semi compact.

Varieties

Sl No.

Name of the crop/variety

Year of release

National /State level

Adaptation zone

Special features

Indaf 7

1986

State

Karnataka

Indaf 8

1986

State

Karnataka

Indaf 9

1986

State

Karnataka

HR 911

1986

State

Karnataka

PR 2614

1990

State

Tamil Nadu

MR 1

1992

State

Karnataka

High seed yield

GPU 28

1996

State

Karnataka

Highly resistant to both finger and neck blast disease, compact ear with tip incurved

GPU 45

2001

National Madhya Pradesh, Gujarath, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Early duration and highly resistance to blast disease

GPU 67

Non lodging (Semi dwarf 2009 National Chhattisgarh, stature) resistance to blast Jharkhand, diseases Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand

GPU 66

2009

State

Karnataka

Green plant parts with narrow leaves light green, medium compact ears with fingers tip incurved. Resistant to neck and finger blast

KMR-301

2010

State

Karnataka

Open and tip incurved ear head, grains are bold and red in colour.

VARIETIES

DURATION (DAYS)

AVG YLD (q/ha)

Remarks.

Godavari

115-120

30-40

Good tillering, drought tolerant, widely adaptable, suitable for Kharif and Rabi

Ratnagiri

110-115

30-40

Good tillering, suitable for kharif and Rabi

Gauthami

115-120

30-40

Good tillering, blast tolerant

Padmavathi

110-115

30-40

Good tillering, suitable for kharif and Rabi.

Suraj (VR â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 520)

95-100

20-25

Early variety suitable for punasa season.

Saptagiri

110-115

30-40

Good tillering with good lengthy fingers, blast tolerant.

Maruthi

Early variety, which can escape terminal drought.

RULING VARIETIES GPU 28 L5 GPU 26 MR 1 INDAF 9

GOFI-R 10 HIGH YIELDING VARIETY (VML -365) DROUGHT TOLERANT

SEED CERTIFICATION IN FINGER MILLET (Elusine caracana L.) I. Application and Amplification of General Seed Certification Standards The General Seed Certification Standards are basic, and together with the following specific standards constitute the standards for certification of finger millet seed. II. Land Requirements Land to be used for seed production of finger millet shall be free of volunteer plants. III. Field inspection A minimum of two inspections shall be made, first during flowering and the second at maturity and prior to harvesting. IV. Field Standards

Field standard (B) Specific requirements

(A) General requirements Contaminants

Foundatio n(m)

Fields of other varieties

Fields of the same variety not confirming to varietal purity requirements for certification.

Certified (m)

Maximum permitted at final inspection.

3 3

Factors

Off types

Foundation

Certified

0.050

0.10

 ISOLATION REQUIREMENTS  Ragi is normally self pollinated crop but naturally out crossing will be 1-4% .It is usually sufficient isolate seed field with 3m all around .

ROGUING  Roguing should be started before .  All rogues & volunteers must be cut from the ground level or pulled out.  Remove off types in the field at flowering rouging should be done due to remove pollen shedding from designated disease plants .  The field should be rouged thoroughly before harvesting.

IRRIGATED

RAINFED

Rainfall Average and well distributed rainfall of 450-500 mm is optimum for rain fed ragi

same

Season summer irrigated crop by planting January – February.

June- July in Tamil Nadu. It also grown in winter season (rabi) by planting in September – October in Tamil Nadu .

PREPARATION OF LAND For raising seedlings to plant one ha of main field, Plough two or three times with a mould board plough or five times with a country plough.  FORMING RAISED BED PRE-TREATMENT OF THE SEEDS WITH FUNGICIDES uniform coating of seeds with Pseudomonas sp. 2gm/kg of seeds.

Tillage Fallow ploughing ,In the month of April or May, one deep ploughing with mould board plough followed by ploughing with wooden plough twice is necessary. Before sowing secondary tillage with cultivator and multiple tooth hoe to prepare smooth seed bed is necessary.  the recommended seed rate of 15-20 kg per hectare will contain about 4 million seeds. Sowing by seed-cum-fertilizer drill is advantageous for line sowing besides efficient utilization of applied nutrients

Seed treatment with Azospirillum may be done @ 3 packets/ha (600g/ha) Make shallow rills not deeper than one cm on the beds by passing the fingers vertically over them. seed hardening technique Broadcast 5 kg of treated seeds evenly on the beds. Cover the seeds by levelling out the hand lightly over the soil. Sprinkle 500 kg of powdered FYM over the beds evenly to cover the seeds which are exposed and compact the surface lightly.

 Bio-fertilizers

Azospirillum brasilense (N fixing bacterium) and Aspergillus awamori (P solubilizing fungs) @ 25 g/kg seed is beneficial.

PREPARATION OF MAIN FIELD 1. PLOUGHING THE FIELD Plough twice with mould board plough or thrice with wooden plough till a good tilth is obtained. puddling the land correctly. 2.APPLICATION OF FYM OR COMPOST Spread 12.5 t/ha of FYM or compost or composted coir pith evenly on the unploughed field and then plough and incorporate in the soil. 3.APPLICATION OF FETILIZERS Soil test based fertilizer recommendations may be adopted in Western and North Western Zones in soils adopt a blanket recommendation of 60 kg N, 30 kg P2O5 and 30 kg K2O per ha. 4.FORMING BEDS AND CHANNELS i. Form beds of according to topography of the field. ii. Provide suitable irrigation channels. 5.APPLICATION OF MICRONUTRIENT MIXTURE

i. Mix 12.5 kg. of micronutrient mixture formulated by the Department of Agriculture, Tamil nadu with enough sand to make a total quality of 50 kg/ha.

Recommended dose of 40:20:20 kg/ha N:P:K was applied .Entire P2O5 and K2O are to be applied at sowing, whereas nitrogen is to be applied in two or three split doses depending upon moisture availability. 25-30 and 40-45 days after sowing.

Line sowing is ideal and seed drills giving spacing of 22.5 – 30 cm between rows should be used. spacing of 7.5 – 10 cm between plants, must be followed.

MANAGEMENT OF MAINFIELD TRANSPLANTING THE SEEDLINGS Plant 2 seedlings per hill. Plant the seedlings at a depth of 3 cm. Plant 18 to 20 days old seedlings. Adopt a spacing of 15x15 cm for planting. Root dipping with Azospirillum: Prepare slurry with 5 packets (1000g)/ha of Azospirillum inoculant in 40 litres of water and dip the root portion of the seedlings in the solution for 15-30 minutes and transplant. WATER MANAGEMENT i. Provide one inlet to each nursery unit. ii. Allow water to enter through the inlet and cover all the channels around the beds. Allow the water in the channels to raise till the raised beds are wet and then cut off water. iii. Adjust the frequency of irrigation according to the soil type. No.of irrigations 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th

RED SOILS Immediately after sowing 3rd day after sowing 7th day after sowing 12th day after sowing 17th day after sowing

HEAVY SOILS Immediately after sowing 4th day after sowing 9th day after sowing 16th day after sowing ..

main field     

Establishment(1-7 days) Vegetative phase(8-20 days) Flowering phase(21-55 days) Maturity phase(56-120 days) Stop irrigation thereafter

LAND PREPARATION

Irrigated ragi field.

TRANSPLANTING

RAGI

Weed free ragi field. HOEING AND HAND WEEDING

WEED MANAGEMENT Hand weed twice on 10th and 20th day after transplanting.

PEST MANAGEMENT i. Spray any one of the following Botanicals per ha for the control of leaf hopper, aphids and stem borer. Neem kernel extract 5%. ii. Apply the neem cake powder mixed with ash at milky stage to check earhead bug and earhead caterpillar. the hairy caterpillars (Amsacta albistriga). by spraying Endosulphan (0.07%) or Monocrotophos 0.05%. Grasshoppers can be controlled by spraying / dusting BHC 10% in early stages of infection.

In line sown crop 2-3 inter-cultivations are necessary. In assured rainfall and irrigated areas spraying 2, 4-D sodium salt @ 0.75 kg.a.i./ha as post-emergent spray around 20-25 days after sowing effectively controls weeds. Isoproturon @ 0.5 a.i/ha as pre-emergence spray is also effective in control of weeds.

(i) a treatment of seed with Cap tan or Thiram or Emisan @ 3g/kg of seed before sowing,  (2) by spraying the crop with Hinoson or Bavistln twice at tillering and ear head emergence stage, and  (3) growing resistant varieties like PES -8 or PES -176. A spraying with Dithane M-45 (0.02%) or Dithane Z- 78 (02% ) will effectively reduce the damage from downy mildew and blight diseases.

Diseases,  blast (Pyricularia spp),  Seedling blight (Cochiobolus noduloeus),  Downy mildew (Sclero- phthora macrospora)

Nodal Blast:

Nodes become black and break up .

Management •Seed treatments with Captan or Thiram @ 4g/kg or Carbendazim 2g/kg of seed. •Spray Tricyclazole @ 500g or Edifenphos 500ml or Carbendazim 250g/h

Blast

Leaf blast

Mosaic: Potyvirus Mottle streak: Nucleorhabdovirus Vector: Cicadulina bipuntella ,C. chinai

Small specks on funnel leaves

Mottling of centre plant

Chlorotic streaks along vein

Yellowing of entire plant

Symptoms on ear head

Severity of mottle streak diseases

Management: ď&#x192;ź Rogue out the affected plants ď&#x192;ź Spray systemic insecticides Methyl dematon or Monocrotophos 500ml/ha. when noticing symptom and repeat twice if necessary at 20 days interval to control the vector.

STORAGE PEST.  Indian meal moth Plodia interpunctella Hubner.

 Larger grain borer Prostephanus truncatus

 Red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum

Growth and development Finger millet seeds lack dormancy. However, they will not germinate in soil that lacks sufficient moisture to support seedling growth. Seedlings are sensitive to drought, but mature plants go dormant during short periods of drought and produce new tillers when conditions become favourable again. Plants tiller strongly and root from lower nodes, and provide excellent protection against soil erosion. Time from planting to flowering is 50–120 days; the complete crop cycle is 3–6 months.

Physiological maturity

ii.

Ragi crop does not mature uniformly and hence the harvest is to be taken up in two stages.

When the ear head on the main shoot and 50% of the ear heads on the crop turn brown, the crop is ready for the first harvest. iii. Dry ear heads until seed moisture content is 15%

HARVESTING First Harvest i. Cut all ear heads which have turned brown. ii. Dry, thresh and clean the grains by winnowing. Second Harvest i. Seven days after the first harvest, cut all the ear heads including the green ones. ii. Cure the grains to obtain maturity by heaping the harvested ear heads in shade for one day without drying, so that the humidity and temperature increase and the grains get cured. iii. Dry, thresh and clean the grains winnowing and store the grains in gunnies.

Ragi â&#x20AC;? harvestingâ&#x20AC;Ś the heads of the ragi crop are cut off in the field.

Threshing ď&#x192;&#x2DC;Dry ear heads until seed moisture content is 15% and separate manually by threshing with bamboo stick or machine thresher. Pre cleaning and drying ď&#x192;&#x2DC;Threshed seeds should be pre cleaned before sun drying, seeds must be dried to 12% before grading.

Ragi processing Ragi harvesting

Preparing to winnow

winnowing Winnowed seeds

SEED YIELD Rain fed condition = 10-15 quintals per ha Irrigated condition = 40 quintals per ha

Storage  The grain is notably free from any serious pest damage in store and it keeps well for several years provided it is kept dry without deterioration or weevil damage.  Consequently, it is an important famine food. Dry straw can also be stored for a sufficient long time and used as fodder. Seed retains viability and vigour better than any other cereal crop with marginal storage facilities in hot humid areas.  For long term storage, in humid places 700 gauge polythene bag may be used.

Table .1.Effect of planting method, sowing date and spacing on weed dry weight and plant height of finger millet in2009 and 2010 wet season Treatments

Weed dry weight 9 WAS1

Plant height (c m)

2009

2010

2009

2010

Broadcasting

1.11

35.33

75.67

70.67

Dibbling

1.11

38.89

71.93

65.96

SE ±

4.507

12.672

8.033

4.096

11th June 25th June

1.27 0.92

37.78 38.33

74.11 74.78

69.00 68.94

9th July SE ± Spacing

1.16 4.507

35.22 12.672

72.50 8.033

67.00 4.096

10cm

1.19

34.40

82.22

71.94

15cm 20cm SE ±

1.05 1.09 4.507

37.22 39.61 12.672

71.67 67.50 8.033

70.22 62.78 4.096

Planting method

Sowing date

Planting of fingermillet at 10cm inter-row spacing in both years of study and 15cm in 2010 gave significantly taller plants than planting at 20cm inter-row spacing. Shinggu, C.P. et,al,2009 nigeria

Table. 2.Effect of planting method, sowing date and spacing on number of panicle per plot, panicle weight and 1000-seed weight of finger millet. Panicle number

Treatments

2009

2010

Planting method

Panicle weight

1000 seed weight

2009

2010

2009

2010

gms

Broadcasting

542.8

565

1885

2187

2.70

2.67

Dibbling

482.6

539

1634

2000

2.74

2.43

SE ±

70.08

94.32

293.57

359.99

9.860

11th June

486

547

1576

2269

2.67

2.44

25th June

558

576

1967

1993

2.78

2.30

9th July

494

534

1735

2019

2.72

2.91

SE ±

70.79

94.325

293.571

359.995

9.860

10cm

479

621a

1953

2643

2.72

2.47

15cm

517

634a

1735

2184

2.61

2.56

20 cm

543

402b

1590

1454

2.83

2.62

SE ±

70.079

94.325

293.571

359.995

9.860

Sowing date

Spacing

 Planting finger millet by broadcast gave higher number of panicles than planting by dibbling method.  Planting finger millet by broadcast gave higher number of panicles than planting by dibbling method.  Planting finger millet on the 25th June gave heavier panicle than planting on the 11th June but comparable with crop planted on July 9th.  Planting finger millet at row spacing of 10 and 15cm gave heavier panicle weight than when planted at 20cm.  Planting the crop at 10cm gave the heaviest 1000 seed weight in the trial.

Table. 3 Influence of spacing and seed rate on crop dry matter and yield of finger millet at Samaru, Zaria during the 2007 and 2008 wet seasons Crop Dry Matter at 9WAS Grain yield kg/ha Treatment Spacing (cm)

2007

2008

2007

2008

18.24

16.35

3829

2910

17.84

17.22

3790

2825

17.91

17.07

2945

2771

18.05

16.55

2681

1768

18.48

17.13

2665

1537

14.65

14.26

2598

1478

15.40

16.51

2701

1736

17.26

17.48

2739

1785

21.81

20.58

3822

2872

21.41

20.86

3848

2987

SEÂą

0.691

0.143

10.070

37.500

SE Âą Seed-rate (Kg/ha)

10 cm spacing getting higher grain yield. And 30 kg per ha seed rate getting higher grain yield.

C.P. Shinggu et.al 2009

Table .4. Effect of combined inoculation of Azospirillum and AM fungi on yield attributes of Co 12 finger millet Treatments

No. of finger/plant

Ear head length (cm/plant)

Haulms yield (t/ha)

Grain yield (t/ha)

Percent increase over control

Control

4.0

5.7

5.21

3.16

Nitrogen control

6.4

8.0

5.88

3.76

18.4

Phosphorus control

6.0

7.0

5.44

3.63

15.2

Azospirillum 7.0

7.8

5.88

4.07

29.0

AM fungi

6.8

6.9

5.69

3.73

18.0

Azospirillum 7.3 + AM fungi

8.0

6.29

4.31

36.8

CD (p = 0.05)

0.22

0.33

0.22

the effect of Azospirillum brassilense and AM (Arbuscular mycorrhizae) fungi on the growth and yield of finger millet is higher

Journal of Experimental Sciences Vol. 1, Issue 8, Pages 10-11 [2010]www.jexpsciences.com

M. Ezhil Bama et.al

Table 5 . Effect of drought and irrigation on grain yield, total biomass, H.I.and RUE of two finger millet landraces. Treatments

Grain yield (t/ha)

Biomass (t/ha)

H.I.

RUE (g perMJ)

Drought

1.93

9.63

0.20

2.10

Irrigation

4.05

14.64

0.28

2.82

TZA-01

3.41

13.98

0.23

2.56

TZM-01

2.57

10.29

0.25

2.36

Irrigated TZA-01

4.88

18.14

0.27

3.11

Irrigated TZM-01

3.22

11.14

0.29

2.53

Droughted TZA-01

1.94

9.82

0.20

2.02

Droughted TZM-01

1.92

9.44

0.21

2.19

S.E.D.

0.0783

0.856

3.55

0.4186

d.f

Landrace

Drought x Landrace

Statistical summary

Irrigation treatment getting good grain yield,h.i. biomass, radiation use efficiency.

MUHAMMAD MAQSOOD et.al

Pak. J. Bot., 39(1): 123-134, 2007.

Table.6.Effect fertilizer and protective irrigation on yield and attributes of Ragi Ramamurthy et.al 1999 ) Treatments

No of ears per hill

No of fingers per Seed yield per ear head hill(g)

Grain yield(kg/ha)

1f0

7.05

5.95

24.49

2933

1f1

8.58

6.5

28.31

3194

1f2

8.13

6.08

24.54

2603

2f0

8.75

6.33

30.19

3109

2f1

9.78

6.13

35.19

3859

2f 2

10.4

6.26

30.52

3561

1f0-no protective irrigation and no fertilizer application 1f1-no protective irrigation and 25:25:25 kg NPK/ha 1f2-no protective irrigation and 25:50:25 kg NPK/ha 2f0-with protective irrigation and no fertilizer application 2f1-with protective irrigation and 25:25:25 kg NPK/ha 2f2-with protective irrigation and 25:50:25 kg NPK/ha

2f1-with protective irrigation and 25:25:25 kg NPK/ha Getting higher seed yield per hill and grain yield.

Table. 7.Yield parameters of finger millet crop as influenced by different approaches of fertilizer prescriptions Tre at. No

Treatments

Number of ear heads / plant

Finger length (cm)

Test weight of 1000 seeds (g)

Grain yield (Kg /ha)

Straw yield (Kg /ha)

% Deviation in grain yield from the target

Control.

3.0

5.0

2.93

2649.2

6893.4

GRD (fertilizers) + 10 t / ha FYM.

4.0

6.0

3.07

2893.6

7574.8

41.19

STL (fertilizers) + 10 t / ha FYM.

4.0

6.0

3.18

2925.7

8320.5

42.75

STCR (fertilizers).

4.3

6.0

3.54

3017.1

8962.4

- 25.00

47.24

STCR (fertilizers + 10 t / ha FYM).

4.3

6.0

3.78

3115.8

8310.6

- 22.50

52.02

STCR (fertilizers + 10 t / ha FYM) + Azotobacter.

4.6

6.0

3.92

3392.4

9051.

- 17.50

65.54

STCR (fertilizers+ 10 t / ha FYM) + PSB.

4.6

6.3

4.01

3557.8

9219.2

- 12.50

73.59

STCR (fertilizers + 10 t / ha FYM) + Azotobacter + PSB.

4.6

.7.3

4.12

3740.5

9485.9

- 7.50

82.52

S. Em Âą

0.20

0.17

0.04

68.60

148.90

CD (0.05)

0.61

0.52

0.14

208.11

451.70

Apoorva et al.

% Increase in grain yield over control

bangalore

2007

T1: Control, T2: GRD (fertilizers) + 10 t / ha FYM, (general recommended dose) T3: STL (fertilizers) + 10 t / ha FYM, T4: STCR (fertilizers), (Soil Test crop response ) T5: STCR (fertilizers + 10 t / ha FYM), T6: STCR (fertilizers + 10 t / ha FYM) + Azotobacter, T7: STCR (fertilizers + 10 t / ha FYM) + PSB (Phosphorus Solubilizing Bacteria)

T8: STCR (fertilizers + 10 t / ha FYM) + Azotobacter + PSB. T8 treatment getting higher grain yield.

Table .8.Effect of harvesting at different stages on moisture content ,1000 seed weight and germination Purna &

Indaf -8

Days after Moisture 50% content% flowering

1000 seed Germinati Moisture% Seed weight(g) on % weight(g)

Germinati on %

67.3

0.8

64.7

0.6

1.56

59.7

0.82

1.66

54.8

0.95

29.9

31.2

2.95

2.96

29.9

2.95

0.088

0.026

0.025

0.036

0.014

0.019

No difference in varieties.

Narayanaswami et.al (2001)

REFERENCES Google scholar Wikipedia and encyclopedia AYYANGAR, G. N, R. (1972). The inheritance of characters in ragi, Eleusine coracana Gaertn., Madras Agr. J. 20: 1-9.  S.NARAYANASWAMY. (1980). Studies in physiological maturity, shedding, threshing & drying in some improved varieties of Ragi.