Enhancement of Productivity of Late Sown Rapeseed (Brassica campestris var toria) Through Sulfur and Boron Application Under Rice-Fallow System of Assam

ABSTRACT

The neglected use of micronutrient greatly hampered the productivity of oilseed crop. Thus, to determine the optimal dose of S and B on toria under rice-fallow system, an experiment was carried out with five doses of S i.e. 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 kg/ha and 3 doses of B i.e. 0, 1 and 2 kg/ha for two consecutive years (2018–19 and 2019–20). The plant growth parameters, i.e. plant height, dry matter accumulation, leaf area index and crop growth rate, and yield attributing parameters, i.e. siliqua/plant and seeds/siliqua, were greatly enhanced through application of S @ 30 kg/ha as well as B@ 2 kg/ha. The higher seed yield (10.11q/ha), stover yield (22.00q/ha) and oil yield (3.86 q/ha) were registered with the application of S @ 30 kg/ha + B @ 2 kg/ha, but it was at par with S@ 30 kg/ha + B @ 1 kg/ha. The combined application of S@ 30 kg/ha + B @ 2 kg/ha also noted higher plant nutrient uptake of N, P, K including S and B closely followed by S@ 30 kg/ha + B @ 1 kg/ha. But in terms of economics, conjugate application of S@ 30 kg/ha + B @1 kg/ha showed maximum monetary benefit with highest B:C (2.24). The pearson correlation indicated strong and positive correlation of seed yield with growth and yield parameters as well as nutrient uptake by plants. Regression analysis revealed that each one unit increase in plant dry matter accumulation showed an increase in seed yield by 4.56 unit and each one increase uptake in N, P, K, S and B showed an increase in seed yield by 0.19, 0.63,0.40,0.55 and 0.05, respectively. Henceforth, considering all the factors the combination of S@ 30 kg/ha and B@1 kg/ha may be recommended under the late sown toria in rice-fallow system.

KEYWORDS:

• Economics
• growth
• nutrient content
• nutrient uptake
• yield

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledged the Directorate of Post Graduate Studies, Assam Agricultural University for the post -graduate programme under the Directorate of Post -Graduate Studies, AAU, Jorhat-13.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and materials

The data presented in this study are available within the article.

Authors contribution statement

The authors confirm contribution to the paper as follows, Rekhankona Pegu- Design and formulating of the research programme, Nayanjyoti Ojha & Kalyan Pathak: Monitoring of the research work, Mahima Begum: data analysis and draft manuscript preparation, Perves Ahmed and Hemanta Saikia: Editing and reviewing of the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The authors are highly grateful to Directorate of post graduate studies, Assam Agricultural University for providing fund for conducting the research.