Effect of seed pelleting and foliar nutrition on growth and yield traits of summer sesame (Sesamum indicum L.)

A field study, effect of seed pelleting and foliar nutrition on growth and yield of summer sesame cv. GJT 5 was conducted at the Sagdividi Farm, Department of Seed Science and Technology, College of Agriculture, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh, during the summer of 2022, using a factorial randomized block design. The experiment comprised five seed pelleting treatments (P0: non-pelleted, P1: seed pelleted with urea @ 20 g/kg, P2: seed pelleted with DAP @ 10 g/kg, P3: seed pelleted with ZnSO4@ 4 g/kg and P4: seed pelleted with MgSO4 @ 4 g/kg) and five foliar nutrition treatments (F0: No spray (control), F1: foliar nutrition with urea @ 1 % at 30 DAS, F2: foliar nutrition with DAP @ 1 % at 30 DAS, F3: foliar nutrition with ZnSO4 @ 1 % at 30 DAS and F4: foliar nutrition with MgSO4 @ 1 % at 30 DAS). Among the seed pelleting treatments, seed pelleting with ZnSO4 @ 4 g/kg (P3) and among the foliar nutrition, foliar nutrition with DAP @ 1 % at 30 DAS (F2) recorded the maximum number of branches per plant (5.40), plant height (86.27 cm), number of capsules per plant (85.60), number of seeds per capsule (66.91), seed yield per plant (20.53 g), biological yield per plant (78.73 g), 1000 seed weight (3.49 g), harvest index (25.88 %), seed yield in (25.88 kg/ha) with the lowest days to 50 per cent flowering (37.40 days) and days to maturity (78.80 days).