Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during rabi season of 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 at Agriculture Research Farm of Palli Siksha Bhavana, Visva-Bharati to study the “Influence of cutting and fertilizer management on growth and yield of fodder oats (Avena sativa L.)”. Various growth attributes (viz. dry matter accumulation and leaf area index) of fodder oats were influenced significantly with different levels of fertilizer management. An increasing trend was found in dry matter accumulation and leaf area index of oats with the advancement of growth of the crop up to 60 days when 1 st cutting was taken. A significant response from cutting and fertilizer management was found on total green and dry fodder yields of oats. The highest green and dry fodder yields were achieved from fertilizer schedule of N 120 P60 K 60 kg ha -1 both at single cutting and two cuttings management. Significantly higher total green and dry fodder yields were obtained from two cut management (29.74 and 7.92 t ha -1 , green and dry fodder respectively) when compared with single cut management (14.68 and 3.37 t ha -1 , respectively), indicating the scope of getting two cuttings from fodder oats in red and lateritic belt of West Bengal.

Keywords: Cutting, fertilizer, growth, nutritive value, fodder yield.