Abstract

India is a leading producer of oilseeds and importer of vegetable oil in the world. To ensure self-sufficiency in oilseeds production, the country needs to enhance production and productivity through adoption of improved technologies. Among different edible oilseeds, sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) grows well during different seasons under various cropping systems and the productivity can be increased by efficient nutrient management and plant stand. Based on the above facts, a field trial was conducted during summer season of 2021 at Experimental Farm of Centurion University of Technology and Management, Odisha by adopting split plot design comprising of three main factors as spacing (30 cmx 15 cm, 40 cmx 15 cm and 50 cmx 15 cm) and four sub factors as nitrogen levels (0, 30, 60 and 90 kg N/ha). The branches/plant (4.2), capsules/plant (31.8), number of seeds/capsule (38.1), and 1000-seed weight (2.60g) were more with wider spacing of 50 x 15 cm and it was closely followed by 40 cm x 15 cm and, both the treatments were significantly superior to a closer spacing of 30 cm x 15 cm. However, the maximum seed, stover and biological yields of sesame were realized with a spacing of 40 cm x 15 cm (481, 2261 and 2742 kg/ha) and it was because of optimum spacing with the treatment. Among different nitrogen levels, 90 kg N/ha resulted in superior performance in expression of various growth and yield attributes and seed (525 kg/ha), stover (2372 kg/ha) and biological yields (2898 kg/ha) than other levels. The interaction effect indicated that a spacing of 40 cm x 15 cm along with 90 kg N/ha resulted in seed (619 kg/ha), stover (2756 kg/ha) and biological yields (3375 kg/ha) of sesame. The experiment concluded that to obtain higher growth and productivity of sesame, the spacing of 40 cm x 15 cm can be adopted along with 90 kg N/ha.