Growth and yield of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) as Influenced by nitrogen levels and weed management practices under south Gujarat condition

A field experiment was conducted on heavy black soil at the College Farm, N. M. College of Agriculture, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari (Gujarat) during the summer season 2019. The study consisted combinations of three levels of nitrogen viz. 25 kg N/ha (N1), 50 kg N/ha (N2) and 75 kg N/ha (N3) and seven weed management practices viz. Weedy check (W1), Weed free check (W2), HW at 30 DAS (W3), Pendimethalin (PE) @ 0.75 kg/h (W4), Pendimethalin (PE) @ 0.75 kg/ha + One HW at 30 DAS (W5), Quiazalfop-p-ethyl (PoE) at 20 DAS @ 0.05 kg/ha (W6) and Pendimethalin (PE) @ 0.75 kg/ha + Quiazalfop-p-ethyl (PoE) at 30 DAS @ 0.05 kg/ha (W7) were tested in randomized block design with three replications. Significantly higher values of all the all the growth and yield attributes such as plant height, number of leaves per plant, number of primary branches per plant, length of capsule, number of capsule per plant, number of seed per capsule, seed yield per plant and weight of 1000 seeds were recorded with application of 75 kg N/ha (N3) and in case of weed management treatments, Significantly higher values were recorded under weed free check (W2) which remained at par with treatments W3, W5 and W7. Significantly highest seed yield (954.71 kg/ha) and Stover yield (1560.95 kg/ha) were recorded with application of 75 kg N/ha (N3). In case of weed management practices significantly higher seed yield (971.61 kg/ha) and Stover yield (1640.23 kg/ha) were recorded under treatment of weed free check (W2) which remained at par with treatments W3 (HW at 30 DAS), W5 (Pendimethalin (PE) @ 0.75 kg/ha + One HW at 30 DAS) and W7 (Pendimethalin (PE) @ 0.75 kg/ha + Quiazalfop-p-ethyl (PoE) at 30 DAS @ 0.05 kg/ha). Lower weed density and weed index with higher weed control efficiency were recorded in treatment weed free check (W2), which was followed by application of Pendimethalin (PE) @ 0.75 kg/ha + One hand weeding at 30 DAS (W5).