EFFICACY OF SEAWEED SAP ON PRODUCTIVITY OF SESAME (Sesamum indicum L.)
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Date
2015
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Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke, Ranchi, Jharkhand
Abstract
Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is considered to be the oldest oilseed crop known to
man, domesticated well over 5000 years ago. It is a short -duration and drought-tolerant crop so
it called as survivor crop, with an ability to grow where most crops fail. It is a high value crop
and its oil has excellent nutritional, medicinal, cosmetic and cooking qualities for which it is
known as 'the queen of oils'. It’s seed is usually rich in oil (50%) and protein (25%). In
Jharkhand, it is grown over 8.247 thousand ha area while its production is 354 thousand tonnes
(Anonymous, 2012-13, Departmant of agriculture, Government of Jharkhand). With the growing
health consciousness, the international demand and export of sesame are continuously increasing.
To enhance the production of sesame, the technology needs reorientation and refinement
particularly for rainfed areas of Jharkhand. One of such options can be use of seaweed extract as
plant nutrient. Seaweed extract contains major and minor nutrients, amino acids, vitamins,
cytokinins, auxin and abscisic acid like growth promoting substances and have been reported to
stimulate the growth and yield of plants, develop tolerance to environmental stress, enhance
antioxidant properties and increase nutrient uptake from soil (Turan and Kose, 2004). It also
supplies nitrogen, phosphorous, potash as well as the trace minerals like Zn, Mn, Mg, Fe etc.
Keeping these facts in view, an experiment on sesame (variety Gujrat til 1) to study the
efficacy of seaweed sap on its productivity was conducted at Birsa Agricultural University farm
during Kharif season 2012 on sandy loam soil, moderately acidic in nature (pH 5.02) having
organic carbon (4 g/kg), available nitrogen (225.3 kg/ha), phosphorus (13.4 kg/ha), potassium
(150.1 kg/ha) and sulphur (17.2 kg/ha). The experiment was conducted in randomized block
design with 18 treatments replicated thrice. Treatment consisted of seaweed sap of Kappaphycus
alvarezii and Gracilaria edulis each of which was applied at five concentration level i.e. 2.5%,
5%, 7.5%, 10% and 15% with 100% RDF and three concentration level i.e. 7.5%, 10% and 15%
with 50% RDF along with two control plots with 100 % RDF and 50% RDF with water spray.
Results revealed that there was maximum improvement in growth attributing characters
of sesame like plant height (120.6 cm) and leaf area index (3.57) , dry matter accumulation
(442.97 g/m2) and yield attributing characters i.e. number of branches per plant (3.77), capsules
per plant (39.5), seeds per capsule (86.9), 1000 seed weight (3.14 g), seed weight per capsule
(0.263), seed weight per plant (10.5) as well as grain yield (795.51 kg/ha), stover yield (2391.99
kg/ha), recorded at 10% concentration of K sap with 100% RDF (T6). Increasing concentration
beyond 10% concentration of K sap led to suppression in yield and other characters. Application
of 10 % K sap remained at par with the application of 15 % G sap in similar combination with
fertilizer with regards to growth, yield and nutrient uptake. A marginal increase in protein and oil
content of seed was also noted under T6. Total uptake of nitrogen (78.1), phosphorus (18.7) and
potassium (62.6) were found maximum at 10% K sap with 100% RDF. However, gross return (`
40182), net return (` 17635/ha) and B:C ratio (0.78) recorded maximum with the application of
10% K sap + 100% RDF. Physico-chemical properties of soil (organic carbon, available N, P and
K) after harvest of crop were not influenced significantly by the application of different levels of
fertilizers and concentration levels of seaweed saps on sesame.
On the basis of the present investigation, it may be concluded that application of 100%
RDF (40 kg N, 40 kg P205 and 20 kg K20/ha) followed by spraying 10% K sap would be a viable
option for improving productivity, quality and economics of sesame in rainfed areas of
Jharkhand.
Description
EFFICACY OF SEAWEED SAP ON PRODUCTIVITY OF SESAME (Sesamum indicum L.)
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