Effects of method of planting, spacing and transplanting dates on seed production of mid-season cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) under subtropical conditions of Jammu plains

Abstract

An experiment entitled “Effects of method of planting, spacing and transplanting dates on seed production of mid-season cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis)” was conducted at experimental farm, Division of Vegetable Science, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, during winter season 2022-2023. The treatment combinations comprised of two method of seed production viz., in-situ and ex-situ, three dates of transplanting viz., 10th September 2022, 20th September 2022 and 30th September 2022 and with three spacing’s viz., 60 cm × 45 cm, 60 cm × 60 cm and 60 cm × 75 cm in a Split Plot Design with three replications. The study revealed that transplanting done on 20th September proved significantly superior for all seed yield characters except for days to 50% flowering and days to siliqua maturity. Among spacings, the parameters such as days to 50% flowering, days to siliqua maturity, number of siliquas per plant and seed yield per plant were recorded significantly superior at 60 cm × 75 cm spacing. However, characters such as seeds per siliqua, siliqua length, seed germination percentage and seed vigour index were recorded significantly superior at a spacing of 60 cm × 60 cm. However, 1000 seed weight and seed yield per hectare (448.80 kg) were recorded significantly superior at 60 cm × 45 cm. Among different methods in-situ method of planting was found significantly superior with respect to most of the seed characters under study. In case of interaction, transplanting on 20th September following in-situ method significantly maximized seed yield per plant and seed yield per hectare.