Abstract:
Finger millet (FM/ Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.) is widely grown in arid and semi-arid regions
around the world to ensure future food and nutritional security as well as a potential crop for
drought-prone cropping lands. FM can be intercropped with legumes to enhance productivity of
cropping systems. An experiment was conducted at the Department of Crop Science, Faculty of
Agriculture, University of Peradeniya to investigate the nitrogen (N) uptake and yield performance
of FM-Green gram (GG/ Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) intercropping system under well-watered and
drought conditions. The experiment was conducted as two factor factorial in Completely
Randomized Design (CRD) with three replicates per treatment. In a pot experiment, two crop
species were grown as monocropping and intercropping under two moisture levels (well-watered
and moisture-stressed condition). Soil moisture in well- watered condition was maintained at 80%
of the field capacity and moisture-stress was imposed with 40% of the field capacity. All the data
were analyzed using Statistical Analysis System (SAS) software. Parametric data were analyzed
using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and mean separation was done through Duncan’s Multiple
Range Test. Plant dry weight (g/plant) and uptake of N (mg-N/plant) were measured. FM produced
similar shoot and root dry weight irrespective of the moisture treatment and cropping system.
However, moisture stress reduced the dry weight of FM (11.4 g/plant to 7.2 g/plant). Intercropping
had no yield advantage either in well-watered or moisture-stressed condition. Moisture-stressed
condition significantly (P<0.05) decreased the panicle dry weight of FM (5.4 g/plant to 2.3 g/plant).
Irrespective of the moisture treatment, FM grown with GG accumulated more N (155.3 mg-N/plant)
than those cultivated in monocropping system (109.2 mg-N/plant). From the results, it can be
concluded that, FM-GG intercropping provides N uptake advantage for FM. However, Nuptake
advantage could not translate into yield advantage of FM either in well-watered or moisture stressed condition.
