Effect of organic manures and nutrient management practices on growth, yield and quality parameter of safflower under rainfed condition

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted at experimental farm, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola during rabi season 2017-18, to find out the effect of different organic manures and nutrient management practices on growth, yield and quality parameter of safflower under rainfed condition. Experimental finding revealed that, among the different sources organic manures, the treatment with application of FYM @ 5 t ha-1 registered significantly higher in growth attributes viz. plant height (75.78 cm), number of branches plant-1 (15.58), leaf area plant-1 (37.60 dm2), dry matter accumulation plant-1 (67.24 g), seed yield (1745 kg ha-1), straw yield (4661 kg ha-1), biological yield (6406 kg ha-1), harvest index (27.21%) and quality character i.e. oil content (28.16%) and protein content (12.82%) as compared to treatment of no manure. However, it was found statistically similar with greengram residue incorporation treatment. Significantly lowest growth attributes, yield and quality parameter were displayed with the treatment of no manure. Out of five nutrient management treatments, application of fertilizer with SSNM (STCR equation) + (ZnSO4 @ 25 kg ha-1 + S @ 10 kg ha-1) produced significantly highest growth attributes such as plant height (80.42 cm), number of branches plant-1 (17.43), and dry matter accumulation plant-1 (70.37 g), seed yield (1818 kg ha-1), straw yield (4948 kg ha-1), biological yield (6767 kg ha-1) and harvest index (26.86%), which was found statistically identical with treatment of SSNM (STCR equation) superior over other nutrient management treatments. In case of leaf area plant-1 (40.24 dm2), oil content (29.49%) and protein content (13.11%) were recorded significantly highest with fertilizer applied in SSNM (STCR equation) + (ZnSO4 @ 25 kg ha-1 + S @ 10 kg ha-1) than rest remaining treatments. The lowest value in respect of growth attributes, yield and quality parameter of safflower were recorded under treatment of no fertilizer.