Enhancing kharif pearlmillet ( Pennisetum glaucum ) growth and yield through integrated approaches: A comprehensive field study on animal dung composts, cow-based bio-enhancers and fertilizer management in loamy sand

Field experiment conducted during the June to November 2021 and 2022. Throughout both years, the trials were carried out at the same location. Results obtained indicated that among the different composts made from different animal dung, goat dung compost at a rate of 100 quintal/ha was found to be superior in the case of pearlmillet height, effective pearlmillet tillers, earhead length, pearlmillets’ seed and straw yield. Cow-based bio-enhancers, particularly Panchagavya, enhanced pearlmillet height, effective pearlmillet tillers, length of earhead and seed yield and straw yield compared to cow urine and Jivamrut . Fertilizer significantly affected plant height, effective tillers and earhead length, with the recommended dose of fertilizer outperforming 75%. Interaction effect revealed synergies between goat dung compost, Panchagavya and 100% fertilizer dose, superior plant height, earhead length and seed yield. The study highlights the potential for integrated approaches involving specific compost, cow-based bio-enhancers and fertilizer levels to optimize pearlmillet growth and yield.


Introduction
Out of 328.72 million hectares of land, a total of 178.52 million hectares is cultivated in India (Agricultural Land (% of Land Area) -India, 2024) [1] .In the western part of India, mainly states like Gujarat cultivates a wide range of different crop cultivars i.e., during the kharif season, bajra, maize, paddy, groundnut and in the rabi season, cotton, chickpea, wheat and mustard etc. (India at a Glance, 2024) [10] .After rice-wheat-maize, pearlmillet is cultivated the most.India is the worldwide biggest producer of pearlmillet.It occupied 69.3 lakh ha area with an average 86.1 lakh tones production and 1.243 tone/ha productivity during 2018-19 (Directorate of Millets Development, Jaipur Area, Production and Yield of Millets during 2011-12 to 2021- 22,  2021).The only cereal crop that can both respond to rigid management requirements and produce a consistent yield in marginal areas is pearlmillet.Its nutritious value of seed is an important food for different animals during scarcity periods.livestock and poultry animals feed on pearlmillet seed.Pearlmillet production, far less than its potential, it's very with rainfall intensity, quantity and spread.Therefore, the focus of the research should be redirected to address the issues causing its low productivity.To popularize millets in order to take use of their nutrient-rich qualities and encourage their farming, The government of India has declared the Year 2018 as the "National Year of Millets" (International Year of Millets (IYM) 2023 Kick Starts with Focussed Activities Being Undertaken by Central Ministries, State Governments and Indian Embassies, 2023) [13] , and the Year 2023 was declared as "International Year of Millets" by Food and Agriculture Organization Committee on Agriculture (COAG) forum (International Year of Millet 2023, 2023) [12,13] .
~ 350 ~ Well-deposed farm yard manure and composts made from different animals' dung were recognized organic source of major and micro nutrients added to the crop production area before chemical fertilizers introduced in the mid-nineteenth century (Hauck, 1982)  [9] .Regularly adding of organic materials increases the soil's physical properties, increased aggregate strength and reduced bulk density of soil (Diacono & Montemurro, 2010) [6] .Most astounding organic manures is farm yard manure which maintaining fertility and health of soil in alternative agriculture systems (Järvan et al., 2017)  [15] .Roughly sixty different types of bacteria were found in cow feces.Among them, Bacillus sp, Corynebacterium sp, hemicelluloses and Lactobacillus sp. are the bacterial species, Aspergillus and Trichoderma are the dominant fungal species, roughly hundred kinds protozoa and yeasts of Saccharomyces and Candida.These Bacillus genus check harmful pathogens activities and secret beneficial growth hormones for plant.(Lalitha, Ch. and Krishna, 2019) [19] .Cow based different bio-enhancers i.e., Panchagavya, jivamrut revealed that some amount of all require major nutrients as well as trace elements essential for normal plant and growth hormones like kinetin, gibberellic as well as IAA required for crop growth (Xu, 2001)  [43] .Different compost made from mainly animal dung i.e., cow dung compost, buffalo dung compost and goat dung compost, also cow-based various bio-enhancers as supplier of essential crop elements order to maintain ecological stability, maximize soil productivity, and lowering the need for fertilizers made from chemicals.Thus, this study investigates the effect of different composts from different animals' dung, cow-based bioenhancers and fertilizer levels on pearlmillet under pearlmilletchickpea cropping sequence on loamy sand.

Materials and Methods
Research experiments have been carried out at plot number B-9, at Agronomy Instructional Farm, S. D. Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar, Banaskantha during kharif and rabi seasons of 2021-22 and 2022-23.Physico-chemical properties and characteristics of field trial soil are given in Table 1.Split-split plot design have been used in field research, in which five different animal dung composts were selected as the main plot, whereas three cow-based bio-enhancers were selected as subplot and two levels of inorganic fertilizer were selected as subsub plot.Ultimately, thirty treatment combinations involving five different animal dung compost, three cow-based bioenhancers and two levels of inorganic fertilizer have been used in this investigation.The following treatments were carried out: Treatments: Main plot: Different animal dung compost (M) M 1 .FYM at a rate of 100 quintal ha -1 M 2 .Cow dung compost at a rate of 100 quintal ha -1 M 3 .Buffalo dung compost at a rate of 100 quintal ha -1 M 4 .Goat dung compost at a rate of 100 quintal ha -1 M 5 .Goat dung compost at a rate of 50 quintal ha -1 Sub plot: Cow-based bio-enhancers (B) B 1 : Cow urine spray at a rate of 5% at 35 and 60 DAS B 2 : Panchagavya spray at a rate of 3% at 35 and 60 DAS B 3 : Jivamrut at a rate of 200 lit ha -1 at 35 and 60 DAS Sub-sub plot: Inorganic fertilizer (F) F 1 : 100% RDF F 2 : 50% RDF Seed inoculation was made with 10 ml Azotobacter per kg seed and 10 ml PSB per kg pearlmillet seed.Pearlmillet (Pennisetum glaucum L. c.v. GHB 558) were cultivated (on 17 th June 2021 and 10 th June 2022) at the same field site, while the different composts made from different animal dung added as per treatments to soil and mixed thoroughly with the 20 cm layer of soil depth before 15 days of cultivating kharif pearlmillet during both the years of field experiments.of composting and dry waste matter of sunhemp 25 cm thick layer was spread in a pit.Three distinct pits containing a thick suspension of goat, buffalo, and cow dung slurry were filled with an alternate layer of dry waste material and dung suspension until the pits rose 0.5 meters above ground.After that, water was sprayed on the pits to moisten them.It was left outside for fifteen days without any protection.After giving it a turning and plastering it with wet mud, it was abandoned for roughly five month, or until needed.Cow dung compost, buffalo dung compost and goat dung compost were spread based on guidance 15 days ahead of seeding and uniformly mixed with soil (Paul et al., 2019) [29] .Bio-chemical properties of animals' dung composts as well as cow-based bio-enhancers are presented in Table 2.

Meteorological trend
The experimental location is situated in the North Gujarat Agroclimatic Zone IV.The zone famous for arid and semi-arid climate condition with a moderately cold winter, while summer is hot.From the middle of June onward, the monsoon comes to an end in the middle of September.South-west monsoon is reason of majority of the precipitation.The Meteorological Observatory kept track of weekly average meteorological data for the highest and lowest temperatures, relative humidity, hours of sunlight, rainfall, and evaporation throughout the duration of the research period, Chimanbhai Patel College of Agriculture, S. D. Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar, Banaskantha (Gujarat) and graphically depicted in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 for the year 2021 and 2022, respectively.

Statistical analysis
Using standard software, the statistical analysis of the experimentation data accordance with the standard protocol outlined by (Cochran & Cox, 1992) [5] .A five percent significance level was applied when comparing the variances of the various sources of variation in the "ANOVA" with the value of Table 'F' using the 'F' test.Additionally analysed were S. Em. ±, Critical Differences, and Coefficient of Variance (C.V.%).
Because the experiment site was fixed and the treatments were randomly assigned for both years, the pooled experiment research data statistical analysis of the two years of data was completed in accordance with the standard procedure recommended by (Cochran & Cox, 1992) [5] .  [25,35]

Plant height (cm)
Table 3 show the data of kharif pearlmillets' plant height at 30 days after sowing did not significantly differ under the influence of animal composts during both 2021 and 2022 as well as in pooled results.Because of the initial growing days, plant did not require much nutrient; also, different animal dung composts supplied sufficient plant nutrients at initial stage (Solanki et al., 2023) [35] .However, at the time of harvest, crop height has been found statistically higher under the goat dung compost at a rate of 50 quintal ha  [2,21] .

Effective tillers per plant
Statistically analysis data graphically depicted in Fig. 3 reported that among the different animal dung composts, 10 t goat dung compost/ha (M 5 ) registered significantly higher effective tillers ) [2,3] reported that might be attributed to that the decomposition of goat dung compost enhanced mineralization of nutrients in the soil, the more release of nutrient through enhanced mineralization from the richer sources of nutrient (goat dung compost) that resulted in better vegetative growth by producing more effective tiller per plant.

Earhead length (cm)
Significantly higher earhead length (cm) of pearlmillet was influenced by 10 t goat dung compost per ha over different animal dung composts during the years of 2021 and 2022 and in pooled except with treatment M 2 (10 t cow dung compost per ha) during year of 2021, 2022 and in pooled and treatment M 3 (buffalo dung compost at a rate of 10 t/ha) during first year and M 1 (10 t FYM per ha) and M 2 (10 t cow dung compost per ha) during second year (graphically depicted in Fig. 3).It might due higher dose of goat/cow dung compost i.e., 10 t/ha improve the physical condition of soil and could have supplied sufficient N which resulted in better photosynthesis, potassium act as an activator for various enzyme involve in protein synthesis and starch and also high P that can compose a substance known as adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which directly contributes to the energy storage and transfer process involved in plant metabolism and improves the yield component like effective tiller.Similar kind of results found by (Indria Ningsih et al., 2019) [11] .
~ 353 ~  4 explicitly show that 10 t goat dung compost per ha (M 5 ) produced statistically higher pearlmillet seed as compared to the rest of the treatments during pooled and two-year study.The magnitude of increase pearlmillet seed production through 10 t goat dung compost per ha (M 5 ) to the tune of 11.95, 9.96, 12.01 and 13.36 per cent over the application of 10 t FYM per ha (M 1 ), 10 t cow dung compost per ha (M 2 ), 10 t buffalo dung compost per ha (M 3 ) and 10 t goat dung compost per ha -1 (M 4 ), respectively.The significant improvement in grain yield of pearlmillet is also supported that the application of 10 t goat dung compost significantly increased almost all the yield contribute character, especially the number of effective tiller plant -1 and earhead length (Jawale et al., 2009; Suthamathy & Seran, 2013; Uwah & Eyo, 2014) [16,39,41] .

Straw yield (kg/ha)
The data presented in Table 4 reveled that B 5 treatment (10 t goat dung compost per ha) demonstrated a significantly superior straw yield.Specifically, the yields were 5610, 5617 and 5613 kg per hectare in 2021, 2022 and in pooled results, respectively.This performance surpassed all other treatments except for cow dung compost at 10 t/ha, observed in both individual years and in the combine results, and buffalo dung compost at 10 t/ha, observed in the second year only.On a pooled basis of statistical analysis, the enhancement in pearlmillet straw yield was a notable increase of 11.28%, 4.21%, 7.03% and 12.10% under the application of 10 t goat dung compost per ha compare to 10 t FYM per ha, 10 t cow dung compost and 10 t buffalo dung compost per ha and goat dung compost 50 quintal ha -1 , respectively.Compost made from goat dung might improve the overall bio-chemical properties of soil including supply of the essential plant nutrients (Washaya & Washaya, 2023) [42] .Thus, a good nutrition in a conducive environment may have aided in the development of new tissues and vegetative growth, which in turn enhanced growth of crop and ultimately, the amount of pearlmillet straw (Awodun et al., 2007; Jawale et al., 2009) [2,16] .

Effect of cow-based bio-enhancers 3.2.1 Pearlmillet population/ metre row length
The static analysis data displayed in Table 3 indicated that different cow based bio-enhancer had no exert notable impact on the pearlmillet population and at harvest of crop during both the year of field experimentation and as well as the combined results of these two years (pooled results).The spray of bio-enhancers did not have any impact on the germination of the seed because the first spray of cow-based bio-enhancers was applied after germination.

Plant height (cm)
A two-year field experiment data as well as pooled analysis data presented in Table 4 explicitly show that the application of cowbased bio-enhancers did not have any significant effect on plant height at 30 days after sowing of pearlmillet crop.However, at the time of harvest, significantly higher plant heights viz., 190.70 and 189.81 cm were recorded during 2021 (1 st year) and on pooled basis, respectively under the 5% spray of Panchagavya at 35 and 60 DAS over 5% sprays of cow urine at 35 and 60 DAS (B 1 ) and remained at par with Jivamrut at a rate of 200 l/ha at 35 and 60 DAS (B 3 ) in soil application.Application of Panchagavya through foliar enhanced vegetative growth of pearlmillet because it contains the macro and trace nutrients (Table 2) as well as growth hormones which could increase the production of growth regulator in the plant cell system favouring better cell division and elongation (Swarnam et al., 2016; Yadav  & Lourduraj, 2006) [40,44] .

Effective tillers per plant
Application of Panchagavya at a rate of 5% spray at 35 and 60 DAS during 2021 and in pooled analysis data depicted in Fig. 3 recorded significantly higher effective tillers per plant as compared to 5% two spray of cow urine but remained at par with 200 l jivamrut per ha in soil at 35 and 60 DAS.This might be due to the fact that easy transfer of nutrients to plants through for enhancement in number of effective tillers.These results are in close vicinity with the findings of (Somasundaram et al.,  2003) [36] .

Grain yield (kg/ha)
Statistical analysis of two-year field experimentation data is given in Table 4. Indicate that a 5% spray of Panchagavya at 35 and 65 days after sowing produced a significantly higher grain yield of kharif pearlmillet as compared to cow urine but was found at par with Jivamrut.(Saharan et al., 2023) [31] reported that Panchagavya content kinetin and plant growth regulators which have a role in enhancing chlorophyll content in leaves, and jivamrut increase the beneficial microbes population in the soil which improves available nutrients in the soil.

Straw yield
The increase in straw yield under 5% spray of Panchagavya at 35 and 60 days after sowing were to the tune of 220 and 12 kg ha -1 over treatment cow urine and Jivamrut, respectively.The foliar spray application of an optimal dose of Panchagavya could encourage the easy transfer of nutrients and growth stimulants to plants, ultimately leading to an improvement in yield attributes and yield itself.Lower levels of gibberellic acid and indole acidic acid in Panchagavya may have created stimuli in the crop system, boosting the formation of growth regulators in the cell system and their activity in the crop system, promoting the required growth and development and raising the yield of pearlmillet straw (Muthukapalli Krishnareddy et al., 2022) [24] .

Effect of fertilizer levels 3.3.1 Pearlmillet population per metre raw length
Data presented in Table 3 showed application of 75% and 100% RDF did not make a significant difference in pearlmillet population during two growth stages.

Plant height (cm)
100% and 75% recommended dose of fertilizer had not significant effect on pearlmillet crop height at 30 days after sowing during the second year as well as pooled analysis but in the first year (2021) statistically higher plant was recorded under the influence of 100% fertilizer over 75%.At harvest, significantly higher plant height was recorded under the influences of 100% compared to 75% dose of fertilizer i.e., 186.95, 188.58 and 187.76 cm during the years of 2021, 2022 and in pooled analysis, respectively (Table .3). (Sakarvadia et al., 2012) [32] reported that better supply of N and P 2 O 5 could help plant to utilize other essential plant nutrients in more effective way.

Effective tillers per plant
Pearlmillet plant effective tiller were recorded as 5.40% greater under the treatment of 100% dose of fertilizer during pooled analysis of both year field experiments (Graphically depicted in Fig. 3).Sufficient available nitrogen and phosphorus at the time of requirement increased plant cell number and cell size leading to better growth in term of per plant pearlmillet tillers and plant growth (Gautam et al., 2020; Kumar et al., 2022; Sakarvadia et  al., 2012) [8,17,32] .

Earhead length (cm)
The magnitude of the increase in earhead length of kharif pearlmillet crop with the 100% dose of fertilizer over 75% was to the tune of 2.08 per cent.Nitrogen and phosphorus enhanced strong cell wall and therefore better earhead length which might be resulted into profuse earhead of pearlmillet (Gautam et al., 2020) [8] .

Grain yield (kg/ha)
The augmentation in pearlmillet grain production resultant from the imposition of a complete regimen of 100% dose of fertilizer (F 2 ), in contrast to the administration of 75% (F 1 ), manifested an increment of 2.76%, 3.66%, and 3.16% for the respective field experimentation years 2021, 2022, and in the amalgamated findings (Table .4).Enhanced nitrogen rate, increases the activity of cytokinin in plant which leads to the increased celldivision and elongation resulted in higher photosynthesis better growth of plant and dry-matter production and Nucleic acids (RNA and DNA), nucleoproteins, amino acids, proteins, phospholipids, and various co-enzymes all require phosphorus as a necessary component.These two elements create effective growth and greater tillers per plant resulted higher grain yield of pearlmillet was obtained (Meena & Gautam, 2005; Sakarvadia et al., 2012) [8,32] .

Straw yield (kg/ha)
Pearlmillet crop through 100% RDF registered significantly higher straw yield of pearlmillet during the first year of field experiment and in pooled analysis i.e., 5337 and 5314 kg/ha, respectively over 75% fertilizer but straw yield of pearlmillet did not influence significantly under the various fertilizer levels during 2022 (Table .4).

Interactions effect of different animal dung composts and cow-based bio-enhancers
The statistically analysis field experiment data graphically illustrated in Fig. 4 revealed that 10 t goat dung compost per ha and two sprays of 5% panchagavya at 35 and 60 days after sowing produced significantly higher earhead length during pooled analysis and grain yield during first year of field experimentation compared to rest of treatments combination but in case of earhead length at par with 10 t goat dung compost/ha and jivamrut at a rate 200 l at 35 and 60 days after sowing.(Pati & Udmale, 2016) [28] reported that it because of improves the overall nutrient levels of soil resulted nutrient balance maintain in plant system which improve the grain yield.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the application of different animal dung composts and cow-based bio-enhancers demonstrated varying impacts on pearl millet growth and yield parameters.Among animal dung composts, 10 t/ha of goat dung compost consistently resulted in superior plant height, effective tillers, earhead length, grain yield, and straw yield compared to other composts.This is attributed to the higher nutrient concentration and better soil nutrient release associated with goat dung compost.Cow-based bio-enhancers, particularly Panchagavya, improved plant height, effective tillers, and earhead length compared to cow urine but showed similar results to Jivamrut.The impact of fertilizer levels was less pronounced, with 100% RDF showing a slight advantage in plant height, effective tillers, earhead length, and grain yield over 75% RDF.Interactions between goat dung compost and Panchagavya or Jivamrut were most effective in enhancing earhead length and grain yield, indicating the benefits of combining high-quality compost with bio-enhancers to optimize pearl millet production.

( 3 .
99, 4.04 and 4.01) per plant compared to all other treatments except 10 t cow dung compost/ha during both years and in pooled results and with buffalo dung compost at a rate of 10 t/ha during the year of 2021.(Awodun et al., 2007; Ayeni & Oye, 2017

Fig 3 :
Fig 3: Effective tillers and pearlmillet earhead length as influenced by different treatments 3.1.5Grain yield (kg/ha) Research data presented in Table4explicitly show that 10 t goat dung compost per ha (M 5 ) produced statistically higher pearlmillet seed as compared to the rest of the treatments during pooled and two-year study.The magnitude of increase pearlmillet seed production through 10 t goat dung compost per ha (M 5 ) to the tune of 11.95, 9.96, 12.01 and 13.36 per cent over the application of 10 t FYM per ha (M 1 ), 10 t cow dung compost per ha (M 2 ), 10 t buffalo dung compost per ha (M 3 ) and 10 t goat dung compost per ha -1 (M 4 ), respectively.The significant improvement in grain yield of pearlmillet is also supported that the application of 10 t goat dung compost significantly increased almost all the yield contribute character, especially the number of effective tiller plant -1 and earhead length (Jawale et al., 2009; Suthamathy & Seran, 2013; Uwah & Eyo, 2014)[16,39,41] .

Fig 4 :
Fig 4: Interaction effect of different animal dung composts and cow based bio-enhancer on grain yield and earhead length

Fig 5 : 3 . 6
Fig 5: Interaction effect of different animal dung composts and cow based bio-enhancer on plant height and grian yield

Table 1 :
Initial analysis value of experiment site.

Table 2 :
Composition of different organic inputs used in the experiment

3.1 Effect of animal dung composts 3.1.1 Pearlmillet population/ metre row length Effect
of applying different animal dung composts are shown in

Table 3 .
Different composts did not have any strong impact on pearlmillet population at 30 DAS and harvested during both the individual years of field experimentation and in the pooled analysis.It might be due to the plant population being directly affected by the seed germination which is a genetic characteristic not affected by different animal dung composts(Oloniruha et al., 2021 and Solanki et al., 2023)

Table 4 :
Grain and straw yield of pearlmillet as influenced by different treatments