Year: 2019 | Month: September | Volume 12 | Issue 3
Effect of Mulching and Pre-Sowing Seed Treatment with Agro Chemicals on the Growth and Yield of Summer Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) Under Limited Water Resources
DOI:10.30954/0974-1712.08.2019.14
Abstract:
Moisture stress is a limiting factor to achieve potential yield of summer sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) under limited water resources and mulching is one of the suitable measures to mitigate the problem. Further, pre-sowing soaking of seeds with chemicals can facilitate growth, physiological and metabolic activities and thus enhance crop productivity. An experiment was conducted at Bagusala Farm of MS Swaminathan School of Agriculture, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Paralakhemundi (23o39’ N latitude, 87o42’ E longitude) during summer season of 2018 to study the effect of mulching and pre-sowing seed treatment with agro chemicals on growth and productivity of summer sesame. The experimental soil was sandy loam in texture with a pH of 6.1, 0.73% organic carbon and 230, 32.1 and 346 kg ha-1 of available N, P and K, respectively. The experiment was laid out in Split Plot Design (SPD), with two factors, namely, mulching (main plot) and seed soaking with agro-chemicals (sub-plot). In main plot three treatments of mulching were taken, namely, M0, no mulching, M1, paddy straw mulching and M2, plastic mulching, however, four seed soaking treatments, viz., P1, water soaked, P2, 200 ppm potassium chloride (KCL), P3, 400 ppm potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KH2PO4) and P4, 400 ppm disodium hydrogen phosphate (Na2HPO4) were considered in sub-plot. Thus 12 treatments combinations were replicated thrice in 4m × 3m plots. Sesame variety ‘Gauri’ performed well with plastic mulching as it recorded significantly better growth and higher yield than paddy straw mulching and no mulching. Among seed soaking treatments, it was noted that pre-sowing seed soaking with either of 400 ppm of Na2HPO4 or 400 ppm of KH2PO4 exhibited superiority to other treatments to obtain higher productivity. Moreover, plastic mulching and seed soaking with either of Na2HPO4 or KH2PO4 combination resulted in higher net return and benefit: cost ratio.
© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
Print This Article Email This Article to Your Friend
