Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during the summer season of 1997 and 1999 to study the effect of irrigation and sulphur on growth and productivity of summer sesame and change in available S in soil. The experiment was carried out with four levels of irrigation viz. one irrigation at flowering, two irrigations at flowering and branching, three irrigations at flowering, branching and capsule development and four irrigations at 4-6 leaf stage, branching, flowering and capsule development stages and four levels of sulphur i.e. 0, 15, 30 and 45 kg/ha in a split plot design and replicated thrice. Summer sesame applied with four irrigations produced significantly higher growth viz. plant height, drymatter production, LAI and CGR than other levels of irrigation. Seed and stick yields and harvest index were observed maximum at four levels of irrigation. Four irrigations produced 14.51, 32.43 and 63.14% higher seed yield over three, two and one irrigations respectively. 45 kg S ha recorded maximum growth attributes and were observed minimum with 0 level of sulphur. The highest seed and stick yield were obtained from the crop receiving 45 kg S ha' though the effect was on par with that of 30 kg S ha'. The highest available sulphur was recorded under one irrigation in 0-30 cm. soil depth but it was the highest in 30-60 cm soil depth with four irrigations. The lowest and highest available S content were found under 0 level and 45 kg S ha-1 respectively.

Keywords: Irrigation, Sulphur, Growth attributes, Yields, HI, Available soil S, Sesame