Essential oil, fatty oil and seed yield of nigella (Nigella sativa L.) as influenced by sowing dates and crop geometry

A field experiment was carried out with an object to find out optimum sowing time and crop geometry. Date of sowing significantly affected growth and yield attributes as well as seed yield and quality parameters of nigella. Sowing of nigella on 15th October exhibited the highest plant height at all the growth stages, number of branches per plant, seed yield (8.13 q per ha), 1000-seed weight, seed yield per plant, capsule weight, number of seeds per capsule, number of capsule per plant, fatty oil and essential oil content which were significantly higher over rest of the sowing dates. Crop geometry of 25 cm × 10 cm (row to row and plant to plant) spacing significantly resulted the highest plant height at in all stages. Similarly, number of capsule per plant, number of seeds per capsule, 1000-seed weight, seed yield and essential oil content were also maximum with crop geometry of 25 cm × 10 cm. Therefore, sowing of nigella on 15th October at 25 cm × 10 cm spacing was found better for higher essential oil (0.34%), fatty oil (33.10%) and seed yield 8.13 g/ha.