Performance of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) Cultivars under different irrigation levels

A field experiment was conducted during Rabi 2019-20 at Instructional Farm, College of Agriculture, Swami Keshwanand Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner to study the effect of irrigation levels on growth and quality of fennel cultivars. The treatments comprised of four irrigation levels (0.55, 0.70, 0.85 and 1.0 PE) and four fennel cultivars (RF-101, RF-125, RF-143, and RF-205). The results revealed that growth and quality parameters of fennel cultivars were significantly increased by increasing irrigation levels. Highest plant height at 60 DAS and harvest (76.42 and 147.22cm, respectively), number of primary and secondary branches/plant (6.53 and 8.42, respectively), dry matter accumulation at 60, 100 DAS and at harvest (13.55, 30.01 and 51.99 g/plant, respectively), protein content in seed (9.25 per cent) and oil content in seed (1.67 per cent) were recorded with crop irrigated at 1.0 PE irrigation levels but it was remained statistically at par with 0.85 PE. Among the fennel cultivars, significantly highest plant height at 60 DAS and harvest (76.06 and 140.76 cm, respectively), number of primary and secondary branches/plant (6.03 and 8.04, respectively), dry matter accumulation at 60, 100 DAS and at harvest (13.03, 28.78 and 48.19 g/plant respectively) was recorded in RF-205 cultivar. Maximum protein content (1.81 per cent) was recorded in RF- 125 fennel cultivar as compared to rest of cultivars.