Impact of varying levels of sulphur and boron on growth and yields of mustard under different crop establishment

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out over two consecutive rabi seasons of 2022-23 and 2023-24 at Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh to investigate the “Impact of varying levels of sulphur and boron on growth and yield of mustard under different crop establishment methods”. The treatments comprised of two crop establishment methods (Direct seeding, Transplanting) in main plots and four levels of sulphur (Control, 20 kg S ha-1, 30 kg S ha-1 and 40 kg S ha-1) in sub plots and three levels of boron (control, 1 kg B ha-1and 2 kg B ha-1) in sub-sub plots. The experiment was laid out in a split-split plot design with three replications. The results of study revealed that direct seeding produced significantly higher plant height of 37.93, 114.81, 153.64 and 152.19 cm. However, highest dry matter accumulation of 21.72, 54.73 and 85.87 g plant-1 was recoded transplanted crop. The highest seed yield and stover yield of 20.72 q ha-1 and 49.36 q ha-1, respectively were registered under transplanting method. Application of sulphur @ 40 kg ha-1 produced significantly the highest seed and stover yields of 21.88 and 51.00 q ha-1 with harvest index of 30.05% and proved superior over rest of the levels except 30 kg S ha-1. Whereas, maximum seed (20.28 q ha-1) and stover yield (48.81 q ha-1) was recoded with boron @ 2 kg ha-1. The experiment concluded that the transplanting mustard, along with application of 40 kg S ha-1 and 2 kg B ha-1 promote the growth and enhance the productivity of the mustard crop.