Enhancing finger millet yield and grain quality through stale seedbed and live mulch strategies

Finger millet grains are highly nutritious and contain higher amount of mineral nutrients compared to other cereals and millets. However, weed infestation remains a major biological constraint that significantly reduces its productivity. To address this challenge, field experiments were conducted during the Rabi and summer seasons of 2022–23 to assess the impact of non-chemical weed management practices on the yield and grain quality of finger millet. The experiments were laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications, incorporating two factors: seedbed preparation methods (normal seedbed NSB, stale seedbed SSB with light raking and SSB with flaming) and live mulching treatments (control and three different leguminous live mulches). Live mulches were incorporated into the soil at 40 days after sowing (DAS) using a wheel hoe weeder. Pooled data indicated a significant interaction between seedbed and live mulching treatments. The highest grain yield (885 kg ha-1) was recorded under SSB with light raking combined with cowpea live mulching. This combination also enhanced grain phosphorus (0.180 % in Rabi, 0.165 % in summer) and protein content (14.50 % in Rabi, 14.23 % in summer). Meanwhile, SSB with flaming combined with green gram live mulch significantly increased grain potassium levels (1.49 % in Rabi, 1.46 % in summer), while the highest starch content was found with SSB + flaming and cowpea mulch (74.03 % in Rabi, 82.17 % in summer). These results highlight the effectiveness of integrating stale seedbed preparation with live mulching to improve both the productivity and nutritional quality of finger millet under non-chemical weed management systems.