Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2020) 9(8): 2297-2303 2297 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2020.908.263 Growth and Yield of Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn.) as Influenced by Intercropping with Pulses Dhimmagudi Ramamohan Reddy 1* , P. Shalini Pillai 1 , Jacob John 2 , A. Sajeena 2 and J. C. Aswathy 1 1 Department of Agronomy, Kerala Agricultural University, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India 2 Kerala Agricultural University, Integrated Farming System Research Station, Karamana, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Millets are regarded as one of the ancient foods known to mankind. The hardy nature of millets has gained them the recognition as the staple food of people living in the drier parts of the world. Millets are also known as ‘famine reserves’ due to their prolonged shelf life of more than two years without deterioration (Sahu and Sharma, 2013). Further, millets are nutritionally comparable or even superior to rice and wheat with respect to protein, energy, vitamins, and minerals (Sehgal and Kawatra, 2003). Thus, millets which were once christened as poor man’s food is acquiring acceptance in the food basket of the rich as the keystone towards a healthy and sustainable food revolution. Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) is cultivated in the tropical and subtropical regions, has been reported to thrive on hardly 28 per cent of the water requirement of rice (Triveni et al., 2017). India, finger millet occupied an area of 1.19 million hectares accounting for a production of 1.98 million tonnes and an average International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 9 Number 8 (2020) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com A study was conducted at Integrated Farming System Research Station, Karamana, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, to assess the effect of intercropping in finger millet and to assess the effect of AMF on the growth and yield of finger millet. The field experiment was laid out in randomized block design with 11 treatments replicated thrice. The treatments comprised finger millet (with and without AMF) intercropped with pulses, viz., green gram, black gram and cowpea along with the sole crop of all the above crops. The results elicited that both AMF and intercropping had significant effect on the growth and yield of finger millet. The sole crop of finger millet with AMF was found to show superior growth and yield attributes of finger millet. Among the intercropping systems, finger millet (with AMF) + cowpea was found to excel in the growth and yield. Keywords Finger millet Eleusine coracana, Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi Accepted: 20 July 2020 Available Online: 10 August 2020 Article Info