PRODUCTIVITY AND PROFITABILITY OF BARLEY FLDS IN HYPER ARID PARTIALLY IRRIGATED ZONE OF RAJASTHAN

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is an important nutritious cereal in India with growing demand for malt preparation, brewing and food industries. Over years, declining acreage along with distorted production becomes a major concern in spite of increasing yield. Whereas, feed for livestock invited crop acreage in the case of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Around 71% perceived that barley is more suitable for cultivation under changing climate scenario owing to its high adaptability. Traditionally, barley is a poor man’s cereal in India and its cultivation requires low input with better adaptability to different stresses like drought, salinity and alkalinity, and marginal lands. It has a wide range of utility such as cattle feed, human food and industrial raw material for malting and brewing. Under semi-arid conditions, it is also used for dual purpose viz., green fodder and grain/ straw production from the crop re-growth. Seed is one of the crucial inputs for better farming and its availability and access influence largely the adoption of a variety. Farmers in the study region used mostly their own seed, either higher/ lower seed rate than the recommended (100 kg/ha) and if purchased, it was from seed dealers as they ensure timely availability. Apart from seed replacement rate, dose and source of purchase, time of sowing is more important for targeting better yield. A majority of the barley growers opted for timely/normal sowing and it was highest in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. Interestingly, the association between time of sowing and yield shows that farmers opting for timely sowing harvests more than farmers who are undergoing either late sowing or early sowing. Arid region of Rajasthan is having recurrent drought owing to its harsh and frequent climatic aberrations. Consequently, limit the scope of sustainable crop production and encourage the degradation of natural resources. Therefore, majority of farming community is engaged in subsistence farming due lack of adequate resources and because of poor and instable crop production, socio-economic status of the farmers is very poor. This has necessitated improvement in agricultural production by imposing improved production technologies. Dual purpose barley provides nutrition rich green fodder for the livestock at the time of scarcity and at the same time also provides acceptable quality grain for human consumption. In addition to unfavorable climatic conditions, use of traditional practices is also important factor responsible for low yield. The present study was therefore conducted in Bikaner district of Rajasthan during 2014-15 and 2015-16 to study the impact of improved production technologies on the fodder, seed yield and economics. The data were collected from 52 farmers in 20.8 hectares area. The findings of the study results revealed that improved technology recorded a mean yield of 4100 kg/ha which was 19.65 per cent higher than obtained by farmers practices (3450 kg/ha). The higher net returns (Rs. 56561/ha) and benefit: cost ratio of 2.40 was obtained with improved technologies in comparison to farmer’s practices (Rs. 41288 and 1.77).