Effect of sowing dates and irrigation levels on growth, yield, and water productivity of Dhaincha

A field experiment was conducted at Water Technology Centre, College Farm, College of Agriculture, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Telangana during rabi 2023- 2024. The experimental field soil was clay loam soils with a pH of 7.56 and EC of 0.97 dS m-1. The experimental soil was low in organic carbon (0.39%) and available nitrogen (180.4 kg ha-1), phosphorous (19.3 kg ha-1) while high in available potassium (317.1 kg ha-1). The experiment was laid out in split plot design with 12 treatments, consisting of four dates of sowing viz., first fortnight of October, second fortnight of October, first fortnight of November, second fortnight of November as main plots and three Irrigation levels viz., 0.6 IW/CPE ratio (I1), 0.8 IW/CPE ratio (I2) and 1.0 IW/CPE ratio (I3) as sub plots. Among the dates of sowing, significantly highest plant height (158.5 cm), dry matter production (7056.7 kg ha-1), number of branches plant-1 (12.3) number of pods plant-1 (49.8), number of seeds pod-1 (25.8), pod length (17.3 cm), seed yield (730.2 kg ha-1) and stalk yield (6664.4 kg ha-1), harvest index (9.8%) and water productivity (0.17 kg m-3) was recorded when sown during first fortnight of November and was on par with second fortnight of October and it has shown significantly superior over during first fortnight of October and the second fortnight of November in dhaincha. Among different irrigation levels, significantly higher plant height (151.6 cm), dry matter production (6445.4 kg ha-1), number of branches plant-1 (11.4), number of pods plant-1 (45.6), number of seeds pod-1 (23.8), pod length (16.8 cm), seed yield (671.7 kg ha-1), stalk yield (6113.4 kg ha-1) and harvest index (9.8%) was observed in 1.0 IW/CPE ratio compared to the 0.8 IW/CPE ratio and 0.6 IW/CPE ratio in dhaincha. water productivity was significantly highest in irrigation scheduled at 0.6 IW:CPE ratio (0.17 kg m-3).