Effect of Deficit and Optimum Irrigation at Various Growth Stages on Yield Attributes, Yield and Economics of Summer Sesame

Aims: Sesame is grown in the country since antiquity. Sesame has high nutritional benefits and is utilized in numerous cooking styles everywhere globally. Sesame is called as the queen of oilseeds for the reason of its top notch polyunsaturated stable fats that limit oxidative rancidity and contains high oil content (up to 60%). Sesame is cultivated in summer in the North Telangana in turmeric and rice fallows. Low productivity in sesame is primarily due to rainfed planting on sub-marginal and marginal lands with poor management and low investment. To solve the upcoming challenges and in view of the improving yield and acquire higher returns, precised water management strategies need to be formulated. Hence the present investigation is proposed to study the effect of deficit and optimum irrigation at various growth stages on yield and economics of sesame crop grown in summer.

Study Design: The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design.

Methodology: A field experiment was conducted at Agricultural college, Polasa, Jagtial district during summer 2021 to study the effects of water deficit and optimal irrigation at various growth stages on yield and economics of summer sesame. The study is conducted with eight deficit and optimum irrigation treatments (T1 to T8) and replicated thrice.

Results: The results of this experiment manifested that scheduling irrigation at vegetative, prebloom, flowering, capsule initiation and capsule filling stages (T8) registered highest yield attributes, yield and economic parametersviz., no of capsules plant-1 (45),capsule weight (0.32 g) and no of filled seeds capsule-1 (55), seed yield (1150 kg ha-1), stalk yield (1999 kg ha-1), gross returns (128499 ha-1), net returns (94391 ha-1) and benefit cost ratio (2.76).