Effect of Seed Bed and Different Sources of Nitrogen on Growth and Yield of Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is the world’s fourth most important cereal crop after wheat, rice and maize and is a hardy crop grown throughout the temperate, tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It is a rabi cereal crop is India and usually used as food for human beings and feed for animals and poultry birds (Singh et al., 2012). It is used for manufacture of malt extract which is further utilizes for brewing, distillation and baby foods as boost and horlicks, cocoa, malt drinks and also used in ayurvedic medicines. In the world barley was cultivated on 54 million hectares area with 124 million tones production in the year 2010-11 (FAOSTAT, 2012). In India, barley is grown on 0.78 million hectares area which is largely confined to Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana having 1.6 million tones production and 2167 kg/ha productivity in the year 201011 (FAOSTAT, 2012). Each 100 g of barley grain comprises of 10.6 g protein, 2.1 g fat, 64 g carbohydrate, 50 mg calcium, 6.0 mg iron, 31mg vitamin B1, 0.10 mg vitamin B2 and 50 microgram folate (Vaugham et al., 2006). Both barley grains and straw are highly digestible compared to wheat due to absence of gluten. Hence, it is a valuable crop for health of mankind, cattle and poultry birds. Nitrogen is the main constituent of amino International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 8 (2017) pp. 748-752 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com