Abstract

                                A field experiment was conducted at Tapioca and Castor Research Station, Yethapur, Salem district, Tamil Nadu during the year 2012 – 2014. The following treatments were imposed and replicated thrice in split plot design. In main plot, different hybrids viz., YRCH 1(M1 ), GCH 4 (M2 ), DCH 519 (M3 ) and DCH 177 (M4 ) and in sub plot, different spacing viz., 90 x 90 cm (S1 ), 120 x 90 cm (S2 ) and 120 x 120 cm (S3 ) were evaluated during rabi season under irrigated condition. The results revealed that, castor crop grown well during Rabi season under irrigated condition. It is mainly due to the reason that, in Rabi sown crop there is no incidence of Botrytis gray mold disease and also cool dry season promotes seed setting in castor which results higher seed yield was obtained. Hybrids performed better in wider spacing because, they produce more number of spikes and effective spike length in castor. This is mainly due to in wider spacing, there is lesser competition between the plants. In the nutshell, hybrid YRCH 1 with a spacing of 120 x 120 cm recorded 19 per cent higher seed yield (2572 kg ha-1) than closer spacing of 90 x 90 cm (2157 kg ha-1) under irrigated condition

Key words : Castor Hybrid, YRCH 1, Spacing, Season, Seed Yield