Growth and yield of safflower varieties to different nitrogen levels (Carthamus tinctorius L.) under irrigated and rainfed condition

A field experiment was carried out to study the “Response of Safflower Varieties to Different Nitrogen Levels under Irrigated and Rainfed Condition” at College Farm, N. M. College of Agriculture, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari during rabi 2022-23. The experiment comprised with sixteen treatments consisting irrigation conditions (I1-irrigated and I2- rainfed) and four levels of nitrogen (N1- 0 kg N ha-1, N2- 30 kg N ha-1, N3- 60 kg N ha-1 and N4- 90 kg N ha-1) as main plot treatment and two varieties (V1-PBNS- 12 and V2- PBNS- 86) in sub-plot with three replications in a split-split plot design. The results revealed that the growth parameters viz., plant height, number of functional leaves, leaf area, number of primary branches, number of secondary branches, dry matter accumulation and yield attributes viz., number of capitula per plant, number of seed per capitula, weight of capitula per plant, seed yield per plant, number of seed per plant and test weight of safflower found significantly superior under the irrigated condition as compare to rainfed condition. Similarly, seed yield (1466 kg ha-1), stover yield (3300 kg ha-1) recorded significantly superior under irrigated condition as compare to rainfed condition. Among the different levels of nitrogen application, the growth parameters viz., plant height, number of functional leaves, leaf area, number of primary branches, number of secondary branches, dry matter accumulation and yield attributes viz., number of capitula per plant, number of seed per capitula, weight of capitula per plant, seed yield per plant, number of seed per plant and test weight of safflower found significantly superior with application of 90 kg N ha-1. Similarly, seed yield (1490 kg ha-1), stover yield (3278 kg ha-1) was recorded significantly superior with the application of 90 kg N ha-1.In case of variety, the growth parameters viz., plant height, number of functional leaves, leaf area, number of primary branches, number of secondary branches, dry matter accumulation and yield attributes viz., number of capitula per plant, number of seed per capitula, weight of capitula per plant, seed yield per plant, number of seed per plant and test weight of safflower found significantly superior with variety PBNS-12. Similarly, seed yield (1302 kg ha-1), stover yield (2972 kg ha-1) were recorded significantly superior in variety PBNS-12 than PBNS-86. The interaction effect among the irrigation and rainfed condition, different levels of nitrogen and variety were found to be non-significant.