Performance of oat under different cutting scheduling and integrated nutrient management in Eastern Himalayan...

Oat is versatile and highly nutritious crop and it can be effectively utilized as dual-purpose for fodder and seed production. Generally, farmers are growing oat in very limited and poor in quality in Manipur state of India. Growing fodder oat with correct nutrient management results in increased productivity as well as quality fodder production of oat. Therefore productivity of livestock in study area can be increased with full amount of fodder supplied to livestock. A two-year study was conducted to examine the effect of different cutting management and nutrient management on performance of fodder oat and economics of the system using factorial randomized block design (FRBD). The results revealed that among the different cutting scheduling, three cuts at 60, 90 and 120 days after sowing gave significantly higher green fodder production. However, the maximum gross return, net return, benefit: cost (BCR) and crude protein (CP) percentage was observed under single cut at 60 days after sowing (DAS) + seed. Among the different level of nutrient management, 50% NPK of RDF + 7.5 t FYM ha^-1 significantly increased the green fodder yield, dry matter production, seed yield, crude protein content and economics of oat in Eastern Himalayan region of India The study inference that combination of cutting scheduling of fodder at 60 DAS with the application of 50% NPK of RDF + 7.5 t FYM ha^-1 can be recommended for higher productivity of quality fodder of dual purpose of oat in Eastern Himalayan region of Manipur state of India.