Variation in drymatter partitioning and yield of foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.) varieties under rainfed conditions

A field experiment was conducted to study the variation in foxtail millet varieties for drymatter partitioning and yield under rainfed conditions during kharif season, 2019-20 at Agricultural college farm, Bapatla, A.P, India. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design with ten treatments, replicated thrice. Among the varieties, Prasad and Krishnadevaraya recorded 1.8 folds increase in leaf drymatter over SiA 3222. Narasimharaya and Prasad showed 2.3 and 2.0 folds increase in stem drymatter, and 2.0 and 1.9 folds increase in total drymatter, respectively, over SiA 3222. Prasad, Narasimharaya and Suryanandi recorded 1.8, 1.7 and 1.5 folds increase in reproductive parts drymatter, respectively, over SiA 3222. Higher grain yield was recorded by Prasad, Narasimharaya and Suryanandi i.e., 33.9, 20.4 and 19.4 per cent, respectively, over SiA 3222 and 31.4, 18.1 and 17.1 per cent, respectively over PS-4 and 30.8, 17.5 and 16.5 per cent, respectively, over Lepakshi. Hence, these results revealed that the varieties Prasad, Narasimharaya and Suryanandi showed superior performance in recording partitioning of drymatter and yield under rainfed conditions.