Abstract:
An experiment was conducted at the Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University Farm Dhaka
1207 (Tejgaon series under AEZ No.28) during Kharif-1 (March – June), 2008 to study
the yield performance of sesame in response to population density and source-sink
manipulation. Two factors (A) population density and (B) source-sink manipulation
were initiated. Three population densities viz. (1) 30 plants m
-2
(D
1
),
(2) 40 plants m
(D
2
) and (3) 50 plants m
-2
(D
) and four source-sink manipulation viz. (1) no removal
(M
0
3
), (2) removal of lower empty leaves, lower empty branches and top of the
inflorescence (M
1
), (3) removal of all branches (M
) and (4) removal of lower empty
leaves and lower empty branches (M
3
2
) were comprised for the experiment. The
treatment combinations were (i) D
1
M
0
, (ii) D
1
M
1
, (iii) D
1
M
2
, (iv) D
,
(vi) D
2
M
1
, (vii) D
2
M
2
, (viii) D
2
M
3
, (ix) D
3
M
0
, (x) D
3
M
1
, (xi) D
3
M
.
Significant effect was observe on the basis of population density, source-sink
manipulation and their combination on plant height (cm), number of branches plant
2
,
leaf area index, dry weight plant
-1
, dry weight m
-2
1
M
3
, (v) D
and (xii) D
(g), crop growth rate, number of
capsules plant
-1
, number of capsules m
-2
, number of seeds capsule
-1
, 1000 seed weight
(g), yield plant
-1
(g), total yield (kg ha
-1
), stover yield (kg ha
-1
) and harvest index.
Results revealed that the highest number of capsules plant
m
-2
(1135.20), number of seeds capsule
-1
-1
(28.38), number of capsules
(70.66), 1000 seed weight (3.45 g), total yield
(1725.45 kg ha
-1
) and harvest index (40.72) were obtained with the combined effect of
D
2
M
1
(40 plants m
-2
+ removal of lower empty leaves, lower empty branches and top
of the inflorescence). But the lowest number of seeds capsule
-1
(66.30) and total yield
(1060.75 kg ha
-1
) were obtained with the combined effect of D
3
M
2
(50 plants m
+
removal of all branches). However, to obtain a specific result and recommendation,
more research work on sesame should be done in different Agro-ecological zones of
Bangladesh.
