Studies on oil contents and oil yield of mustard (Brassica juncea L.) following foliar application of sulphur and micronutrients

Abstract

A field study was conducted at Crop Research Farm of Samhigginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Science, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh during rabi seasons of 2022-23 and 2023-24 with the objective to assess the effect of sulphur and micronutrients foliar application on oil contents and oil yield of mustard under semi-arid conditions of Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. The Crop Research Farm is situated at 25.57°N latitude, 87.19°E longitude at an altitude of 98 m above mean sea level. The soil is sandy loam in texture, low in organic carbon, potassium and medium in available nitrogen, phosphorus. The experiment consists of 16 treatments with three replications in Randomized Block Design. Foliar application of sulphur and micronutrients in various concentrations was done at 45 and 65 DAS. Treatment RDF + Sulphur @ 1.0% had statistically higher oil content in both the years (39.60% and 39.80%, respectively) which was at par with treatment RDF + Sulphur @ 0.5% (38.60% and 38.80%, respectively). Both the treatments with the foliar spray of sulphur were found to enhance the oil content of mustard seeds amongst other treatments. Significantly higher oil yield was recorded in treatment RDF + Sulphur @ 1.0% in both the years (713.80 kg ha-1and 733.90 kg ha-1, respectively) which was at par with all other foliar nutrient application treatments except T1(RDF), T8(RDF + FeSO4 @ 0.2%) and T16 (control) in both the years and T14(RDF + CuSO4 @ 0.2%) and T15(RDF + CuSO4 @ 0.4%) in first year. Pooled analysis indicated that RDF + Sulphur @ 1.0% recorded significantly more oil yield (723.8 kg ha-1) than RDF and control by 42.7% and 183.3%, respectively. Thus, it can be concluded that application of sulphur@1% with RDF will result into higher oil content and well as oil yield which could be beneficial for the farmers’ under field conditions.