Effects Of Different Compost Levels on Growth and Yield Performance of Finger Millet (Eleusine Coracana L.) Under Low Input Conditions in Southern Dry Zone of Sri Lanka |Biomedgrid

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) is a native plant to Africa and is a popular crop in tropics because it's high nutritional value. It is a major food crop of the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa and has been an indispensable component of dry land farming systems [1]. Finger millet is also a hardy crop, less susceptible to pests and diseases than any other crop. It is a crop insurance against other crop losses repeatedly due to protracted droughts. Finger millet is a continuously grown crop in low country dry zone in Sri Lanka, generally without using organic or inorganic fertilizers [2]. As a crop belongs to family Poaceae, it is not able to fix atmospheric N. The regular depletion of nutrition status of land and the degradation of soil properties due to continuous cultivation in same lands without using fertilizers have resulted decreasing the productivity of crop cultivation [3]. Tough there is a recommendation for fertilizer application for finger millet cultivation recommended by DOA, farmers are not using inorganic fertilizers for the crop. The people in Sri Lanka, is considered the finger millet as a healthy food for several human health problems such as diabetes, cholesterol, etc. Though the demand for finger millet has increased recently but the annual finger millet production is decreasing. So, in this study, the compost used as main treatment with half of basal application of recommended amounts of inorganic fertilizers by DOA to find out the effect of compost application on enhancing the yield of low input finger millet cultivation under rain fed farming systems in Hambantota where is locating in dry zone of Sri Lanka.