YIELD PERFORMANCE OF SESAME IN RESPONSE TO POPULATION DENSITY AND SOURCE-SINK MANIPULATION

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.