Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

Vol 29, Issue 1, 2023; Page No.(412-419)

EFFECT OF GRADED LEVELS OF FERTILIZER ON GROWTH AND YIELDOF NIGER VARIETIES UNDER RAINFED CONDITION OF ASSAM

Nikita Kaman, Nayanjyoti Ojha, Rinjumoni Dutta, Anjali Basumatary,Ranjan Das and Priyanka Das

Abstract

During the rabi season of 2019-20, a field experiment entitled “Effect of graded levels of fertilizer on growthand yield of niger varieties under rainfed condition of Assam” was conducted at Instructional-cum-Research(ICR) Farm, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat with a view to assess the influence ofgraded levels ofNPK and varieties on growth and yield of niger. With three replications, the experiment was laidout in aRandomized Block Design (Factorial). The treatments comprised of four grades of NPK viz., F1: 10-5-5 kgN-P2O5-K2O/ha, F2: 20-10-10 kg N-P2O5-K2O/ha, F3: 30-15-15 kg N-P2O5-K2O/ha and F4:40-20-20 kg NP2O5-K2O/ha and four varieties viz., V1: NG-1, V2: GA-10, V3: JNS-9 and V4: NB-1.Experimental findingsrevealed that application of 40-20-20 kg N-P2O5-K2O/ha, 30-15-15 kg N-P2O5-K2O/ha and 20-10-10 kg NP2O5-K2O/ha gave statistically at par values in respect of all growth parameters studied viz., plant height,number of leaves per plant, leaf area index, number of branches per plant, dry matter production per plantand chlorophyll content of leaves. Application of 40-20-20 kg N-P2O5-K2O/ha proved superior in terms ofyield attributing characters like capitula per plant, number of seeds per capitulum, seed (534.15 kg/ha) andstover yield (2981.05 kg/ha) and oil yield (204.12 kg/ha). No treatment differences wereobserved in respectof 1000-seed weight and harvest index. Among the varieties, NB-1 gave significantly higher values inalmost all the growth characters (viz., plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf area index, number ofbranches per plant and dry matter production per plant) under study except chlorophyll content of leaves,which was higher in the variety GA-10. On the other hand, the variety GA-10 gave significantly highervalues in respect of yield attributing characters like number of capitula per plant, number of seeds percapitulum and 1000-seed weight which were at par with JNS-9. Significantly higher seed yieldwas obtainedin GA-10 (491.87 kg/ha) which was at par with JNS-9 (470.24 kg/ha), whereas, the stover yield was thehighest in NB-1 (2866.84 kg/ha). Harvest index was significantly higher in GA-10 (16.44%) andwas at parwith JNS-9 (15.90%) and NG-1 (15.50%). The variety GA-10 also produced significantly oil yield (191.96kg/ha). The highest interaction effect was recorded under the treatment combination- V2F4 (40-20-20 kg NP2O5-K2O /ha was applied to GA-10) in respect of number of capitula per plant (35.64), seed yield (623.90kg/ha).