Effect of doses and time of sulphur application on yield and oil content of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) C. K. Kundu, S. Mondal, B. Basu and P. Bandopadhyay Department of Agronomy, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal – 741252, E-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract A field experiment was conducted at the Mondouri Farm, Mohanpur, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, on sandy loam soil during pre-kharif season of 2005-06 to study the effect of sulphur on the yield and oil content of sesame. Sulphur was applied as elemental sulphur with NPK @ 60, 30 and 30 kg/ha. Sulphur was applied @ 20, 40 and 60 kg/ha (as basal, at 10 DAS, at 20 DAS or both). Results showed that application of sulphur in combination with NPK significantly affected the number of capsule per plant, number of seeds per capsule, the seed and straw yields and also beneficial in increasing the oil content and oil yield of sesame. Application of 40 kg S (20 kg basal + 20 kg at 20 DAS) with NPK produced the highest yield. Introduction Oilseeds are of importance in the national economy next to cereals. For human nutrition, a balanced diet should consist of carbohydrate, protein, fats, minerals and vitamins in adequate amount and in suitable proportion. The bulk of this fat is supplied in the form of digestible vegetable oil and comes through oilseed crops. In India, sesame occupies third position in area and production, being preceded by groundnut and rapeseed sesame. Extension of acreage being ruled out and new cropping patterns emerging to cater to increase should be brought about in productivity. It is well-known that satisfactory yield of crops can only be obtained under adequate nutrient combinations. There has been a consciousness among the farmers on fertilizer use. N, P and K fertilizers are extensively used to meet the nutrient Requirement of the sesame crop. S also plays an important role for the maximization of yield because of its indispensability in the synthesis of chlorophyll and certain amino acids like methionine, cystine and cysteine and thus an important component of the oil content. It is also involved in various metabolic and enzymatic processes of plants and as a constituent of glutathione plays an important role in plant respiration. Increasing rise in the nutrient costs, led to defining this investigation to identify the optimum fertilizer towards greater production and better quality.
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Materials and methods The field experiment was conducted at the Mondouri Farm, Mohanpur, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, situated at 23.6 N latitudes, 86E longitudes. The soil of the experimental site is sandy loam in texture, slightly acidic to neutral in reaction, containing 0.61% organic carbon, 0.06% total nitrogen, 49.02 kg ha-1 available P2O5, 145.0 kg ha-1 available potash and 7.3 kg ha-1 available sulphur. There were ten treatment combinations allocated randomly in a randomized Block Design with three replications. Treatments of the experiment T1
: Control (unfertilized).
T2
: 20 kg S/ha as basal dose.
T3
: Control (fertilized) N : P2o 5 : K2O :: 60 : 30 : 30 (kg/ha) 30 : 30 : 30 as basal dose and another 15 kg N/ha at branching and rest 15 kg N/ha at flowering.
T4
: N, P2O5 and K2O as in T3 + 20 kg S/ha as basal dose.
T5
: N, P2O5 and K2O as in T3 + 40 kg S/ha as basal dose.
T6
: N, P2O5 and K2O as in T3 + 60 kg S/ha as basal dose.
T7
: N, P2O5 and K2O as in T3 + 20 kg S/ha (full dose at 10 days after sowing).
T8
: N, P2O5 and K2O as in T3 + 40 kg S/ha (20 kg as basal dose + 20 kg at 10 Days After Sowing).
T9
: N, P2O5 and K2O as in T3 + 40 kg S/ha (20 kg as basal dose + 20 kg at 20 Days After Sowing).
T10
: N, P2O5 and K2O as in T3 + 40 kg S/ha (full dose at 10 Days After Sowing).
The variety of sesame was B-9 (100 day duration) with a yield potentiality of 700-900 kg ha-1 and oil content of 32-34%. The seed rate was 6 kg ha-1 and spaced at 30cm 5 cm. Nitrogen, phosphate and potash were applied in the form of urea, diammonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate of potash (MOP) and sulphur was applied as elemental sulphur.
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Result and discussion Application of 20kg S did not increase capsule number than control, but NPK + 20kg S significantly increased it. NPK alone had also significant influence in increasing the capsule number than control, number of capsules/plant increased up to 40 kg S/ha. There was reduction in number of capsules /plant at 60 kg S/ha over 40 kg S/ha level. Of the different doses and time of S application, ½ as basal + ½ at 20 DAS was the best (Table 1). The result was in agreement with the findings of Thakur, D. S. and Patel, S. R. (2004). NPK + 20 kg S (as basal or full at 10 DAS) significantly increased seeds/capsule than control. NPK + 40 kg S applied as ½ b + ½ at 20 DAS produced significantly more of seeds/capsule than control, NPK + 40 kg S applied full at 10 DAS or ½ b + ½ at 10 DAS. NPK + 20 kg S at 10 DAS recorded the highest test weight and was superior to control. Among different doses and time of S application (T9) ½ b+ ½ at 20 DAS was superior to other treatments (T8 & T10) (Table 1). Application of NPK + S although increased seed yield than control (Table 2), there was no significant difference among 20, 40 and 60kg S/ha levels applied as basal. Seed yield and stover yield was, however, the maximum with NPK + 40kg S (½ basal ½ at 20 DAS). This was due to increased dry matter accumulation and greater yield attributes at this treatment. Harvest index was the maximum with the application of 20 kg S as basal without NPK (Table 2). However, harvest index with NPK or NPK + S was generally lower than that recorded in control. With NPK, increase in S doses increase oil content as well as oil yield significantly up to 40 kg S, but decreased with 60 kg S over 40 kg S. NPK + 40 kg S as basal recorded the maximum oil content (Table 2). Among different times of application, 40 kg S along with NPK, full basal application of 40 kg S along with NPK, significantly increased oil over other treatments except ½ basal + ½ at 10 DAS which was at par with the full basal application. Increase in oil content and oil yield by the application of S to sesame was also observed by Vaiyapuri, V. et. al, (2003). Conclusion From the results, we can conclude that application of sulphur in combination with NPK significantly affected the number of capsules per plant, number of seeds per capsules and also the seed and stover yields of sesame. Application of 40 kg S (20 kg basal + 20 kg at 20 DAS) with NPK produced the highest yield of 13.697q/ha.
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Application of sulphur was also found beneficial in increasing the oil content and oil yield of sesame. NPK alone or in combination with S increased oil content and its yield. So far as the time of application of sulphur is concerned, 40 kg S- ½ as basal at 20 DAS was found superior to ½ basal + ½ at 10 DAS and full applied at 10 DAS. References Thakur, D. S. and Patel, S. R. (2004).Response of sesame (Sesamum indicum) to different levels of potassium and sulphur in light-textured Inceptisols of eastern part of Chhattisgarh. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences., 74 (9) : 496 – 498. Vaiyapuri, V., Amudha, A., Sriramachandrasekharan, M. V. and Ravichandran, M. (2003). Effect of S levels and organics on seed quality and nutrient uptake of sesame. Research on Crops, 4 (3) : 327 – 330. Table 1. Effect of N. P, K and S on the yield attributes of sesame
No. of capsules per
No. of seeds per
Test weight of seed
plant
capsule
(g)
T1
37.67
51.27
3.30
T2
43.77
53.9
3.58
T3
54.60
55.8
3.34
T4
74.22
63.6
3.62
T5
79.50
57.3
3.36
T6
68.30
56.4
3.55
T7
64.07
64.2
3.89
T8
71.40
56.87
3.39
T9
82.00
64.5
3.78
T10
76.20
58.0
3.58
S. Em ±
2.292
1.107
0.109
C.D. at 5%
6.81
3.29
0.324
Treatment
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Table 2. Effect of N, P, K and S on the seed and stover yields, harvest index, the content and yield of oil of sesame Seed yield
Stover yield
Harvest
Oil content
Oil yield
(q/ha)
(q/ha)
Index (%)
(%)
(q/ha)
T1
5.23
8.45
38.23
30.21
1.583
T2
6.56
9.78
40.15
32.69
2.143
T3
7.62
13.23
36.55
34.25
2.067
T4
8.54
17.535
32.75
36.78
3.143
T5
9.497
21.12
31.02
39.00
3.690
T6
8.837
18.045
32.86
37.60
3.323
T7
9.82
23.06
29.78
36.38
3.573
T8
11.45
27.52
29.38
38.59
4.417
T9
13.697
31.075
30.59
38.02
5.210
T10
12.563
29.010
30.22
38.40
4.823
S.Em ±
0.4039
0.098
-
0.169
0.153
C.D. at 5%
1.193
1.218
-
0.502
0.456
Treatment
