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V. DIVYA*, K. VELAYUDHAM, N. THAVAPRAKAASH AND M. DAISY
Department of Agronomy, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore – 641 003, India.
A field experiment was conducted during the early summer season at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, to evaluate the System of Crop Intensification (SCI) practices in sesame. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design, comprised of ten treatments and replicated thrice. The results revealed that closer square planting of sesame at 30 × 30 cm with TIBA application @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS and hand weeding at 35 DAS (T2) showed its superiority in recording the higher plant height, number of branches m-2, LAI and drymatter production, number of capsules m-2, seeds capsules-1, test weight and in producing greater seed yield, stalk yield, harvest index and economic profit than the control and any other treatments tested in the study.
SCI, sesame, growth characters, yield attributes, yield and economics
Edible oils are next to food grains in Indian diet. With burgeoning population, the demand of edible oils will remain at its peak. To meet this demand, it becomes essential to identify new technological options to increase the productivity of oilseed crops. In India, sesame or gingelly is an important oilseed crop next to groundnut and rapeseed-mustard. Sesame has the highest oil content of 46-64 per cent with 25 per cent protein (Goel and Kumar, 1994). There is a wide gap between the potential and actual yield of sesame obtained by the farmers.
The probable reason for the low yield is the lack of appropriate production technology for increasing and sustaining its productivity. To narrow down this yield gap and to enhance the productivity, a new investigation in line with System of Rice Intensification (SRI) has been initiated. SRI is a new innovation in rice cultivation. SRI increases the rice yield than the conventional method of rice cultivation. A similar approach has been tried with other crops with some variations to specific crop is termed as system of crop intensification (SCI) (ISD, 2009). So, the present experiment was carried out to study the influence of SCI practices on growth characters, yield attributes and yield of sesame.
A field experiment was conducted during the early summer season (January to May, 2013) at Wetland farms of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, to evaluate the System of Crop Intensification (SCI) practices in sesame. The soil of the experimental field was clay loam in texture belonging to Typic Haplustalf with pH of 8.35, EC 0.4 dSm-1, organic carbon 0.33 % and available nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) were 236, 15.08 and 506 kg ha-1, respectively. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block design, comprised of ten treatments were replicated thrice viz., T1 – 30 × 30 cm spacing + No nipping + HW at 35 DAS (Control), T2 – 30 × 30 cm spacing + TIBA @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS + HW, T3 – 40 × 40 cm spacing + Nipping at 35 DAS + HW, T4 – 40 × 40 cm spacing + Nipping at 35 DAS + MW, T5 – 40 × 40 cm spacing + TIBA @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS + HW, T6 – 40 × 40 cm spacing + TIBA @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS + MW, T7 – 50 × 50 cm spacing + Nipping at 35 DAS + HW, T8 – 50 × 50 cm spacing + Nipping at 35 DAS + MW, T9 – 50 × 50 cm spacing + TIBA @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS + HW and T10 – 50 × 50 cm spacing + TIBA @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS + MW. The sesame variety, VRI (SV) 2 was used as test cultivar sown on 28.01.2013 at 30 × 30 cm, 40 × 40 cm and 50 × 50 cm. Full dose of N, P and K (35:23:23) was applied basal at the time of sowing. All other recommended package of practices for growing of sesame were followed as per the recommendations of Crop Production Guide (CPG, 2012). TIBA was sprayed @ 50 ppm at 30 days of crop growth. Nipping was done by terminal clipping of first pair of leaves and mechanical weeding was done using self-propelled power weeder at 35 days of after sowing. In the net plot area, five plants were selected at random, tagged and used for taking biometrical data at 30 days interval starting from 30 DAS to at harvest stage. The data were subjected to statistical analysis as prescribed by Gomez and Gomez (2010).
The treatments imposed had no significant influence on plant height of sesame barring at harvest stage. At harvest, the taller plants were recorded under closer square planting of 30 × 30 cm without nipping and hand weeding at 35 DAS (T1) (Table 1), whereas, it was statistically on par with wider square planting of 50 × 50 cm with TIBA application @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS and mechanical weeding at 35 DAS (T10) or hand weeding at 35 DAS (T9) and wider square planting of 40 × 40 cm with TIBA application @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS and mechanical weeding at 35 DAS (T6) or hand weeding at 35 DAS (T5). This was perhaps due to the competition between the inter and intra plants for sun light under closer spacing encouraged self-thinning of branches and enhanced vertical growth rather than horizontal growth. The action of auxins present at apical part of stem increased the rate of cell elongation and cell division which might have lead to increased plant height in case of non-nipped plants or non-spraying of TIBA. Similar findings were reported by Kokilavani et al. (2007) in sesame.
The SCI practices exerted significant influence on the number of branches m-2, drymatter production and leaf area index at all the stages of sesame. Closer square planting of 30 × 30 cm with TIBA application @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS and hand weeding at 35 DAS (T2) registered perceptibly higher number of branches m-2, drymatter production and leaf area index compared to all other SCI practices tested. This was mainly due to more population resulting in higher number of leaves unit area-1 under closer geometry level and hand weeding also might had positive
influence through provision of weed free environment to the crop and all combinedly had cumulative effect in enhancing the drymatter and leaf area. Spraying of TIBA increases the number of branches plant by better translocation of natural auxins to lateral bud stimulates lateral branches to grow. These results are in conformity with Caliskan et al. (2004) in sesame.
Closer square planting of 30 × 30 cm with TIBA application @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS and hand weeding at 35 DAS (T2) gave more number of capsules m-2 whereas, it exhibited statistical similarity with wider square planting of 40 × 40 cm with nipping and mechanical weeding at 35 DAS (T4). The reason for more number of capsules m-2 might be due to combined effect of more number of plants m-2 and increased number of branches plant-1 leads to increasing the total number of capsules plant-1 ultimately results in higher number of capsules unit area-1. The least number of capsules m-2 was recorded under wider square planting of 50 × 50 cm with nipping and hand weeding at 35 DAS (T7) (Table 1). The results were in conformity with Caliskan et al. (2004) in sesame.
The treatments imposed set a prominent variation on number of seeds capsule-1, number of seeds locule-1 except test weight of sesame. Wider square planting of 50 × 50 cm with TIBA application @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS and mechanical weeding at 35 DAS ( T10) registered higher number of seeds locule-1 and capsule -1 (Table 1). Lower number of seeds locule-1 was found in closer square planting of 30 × 30 cm without nipping and hand weeding done at 35 DAS (T1). Overall improvement in plant vigour and production of sufficient photosynthates through increased leaf area and higher dry matter production plant-1 with better partitioning might have increased the number of seeds locule-1 capsule -1 due to the combined effect of crop geometry, TIBA application @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS and mechanical weeding at 35 DAS. These results are in agreement with Basha and Reddy (2001) in sesame.
There were no discernible variations on 1000-seed weight of sesame due to adoption of SCI practices (Table 2). However, maximum 1000-seed weight (3.6 g) was noticed under wider square planting of 50 × 50 cm with nipping and mechanical weeding at 35 DAS (T8). The minimum test weight was with closer square planting of 30 × 30 cm without nipping and hand weeding done at 35
DAS (T1). Similar results were also noticed by Basha and Reddy (2001) in sesame.
Effect of SCI practices brought out a significant influence on both seed and stalk yield of sesame (Table 2). Among the treatments, closer square planting of 30 × 30 cm with TIBA application @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS and hand weeding at 35 DAS (T2) shown its superiority over other treatments in recording higher seed and stalk yield of sesame. Whereas, wider square planting of 40 × 40 cm with TIBA application @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS and hand weeding at 35 DAS (T5) registered the lowest seed and stalk yield. This was due to more plant population unit area-1 and also application of TIBA under closer spacing lead to increased number of branches and drymatter production with better source-sink partition to produce more number of capsules plant-1 which inturn increased the seed yield. Similar findings were also reported by Tiwari and Namdeo (1997) in sesame. The SCI practices did not exert significant difference among the treatments related to harvest index of sesame due to significant biological yield which indicates that the partitioning efficiency of crop was not up to the mark owing to capsule wall. Similar results were reported by Harsha (2006) in sesame.
The highest gross return (` 56850 ha-1) and net return (` 23434 ha-1) were obtained with treatment composed of closer square planting (30 × 30 cm) with TIBA application @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS and hand weeding at 35 DAS (T2). Whereas, the lowest gross return (` 38150 ha-1) and net return (` 4734 ha-1) were noticed under wider square planting of 40 × 40 cm with TIBA application @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS and hand weeding at 35 DAS (T5). Similar to gross return and net return, the benefit-cost ratio was also maximum under closer square planting of 30 × 30 spacing cm with TIBA application @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS and hand weeding at 35 DAS (T2). The economic efficiency and viability of crop cultivation are mainly the outcome of crops and yield with lesser management cost. Among the SCI practices, closer spacing of 30 × 30 cm with TIBA @ 50 ppm at 30 DAS and hand weeding at 35 DAS (T2) gave higher gross and net returns with benefit-cost ratio. This might be due to lesser cost of cultivation in addition to increased seed yield. This result is supported by the findings of Tiwari and Namdeo (1997) in sesame.