PRODUCTION POTENTIALS AND ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF IMPROVED SESAME (Sesamum indicum L.) CULTIVARS UNDER VARYING DATES OF SOWING IN PREVAILING AGRO-CLIMATIC CONDITION OF NORTH BENGAL

S. CHONGDAR¹, B. CHHETRI²*, S.K. MAHATO³, A. SAHA^4
1Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Coochbehar - 736 165, WB, India.
²Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Coochbehar - 736 165, WB, India.
³Department of Post Harvest Technology, Faculty of Horticulture, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Coochbehar - 736 165, WB, India.
⁴Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Coochbehar - 736 165, WB, India.
* Corresponding Author : yonib2050@gmail.com

Received : 25-03-2015     Accepted : 07-05-2015     Published : 02-06-2015
Volume : 7     Issue : 2       Pages : 434 - 439
Int J Agr Sci 7.2 (2015):434-439

Keywords : Sesame, cultivars, date of sowing, yield, economics, quality
Academic Editor : E.a. Zavala-gonzalez
Conflict of Interest : None declared

This investigation was carried out to find the effect of sowing dates and cultivars on yield and economic attributes of summer sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) with five different dates of sowing (10th February, 20th February, 2nd March, 12th March and 22nd March) in the main plots and three cultivars of sesame (Rama, Savitri and Tillotama) in the sub plots, in a split plot design with three replication was conducted on sesame. The crop sown on 2nd March produced highest amount of seed yield which was 55.99 percent and 40.85 percent as compared to the other date of sowing during 2013 and 2014 respectively. Cultivar Rama recorded highest seed yield 17.70 percent and 12.06 percent during 2013 and 2014, respectively followed by Savitri and Tillotama. The date of sowing significantly influenced the number of branches plant-1, number of capsules plant-1, number of seeds capsule-1 and test weight of seeds. The highest yield attributes was recorded when sesame sown on 2nd day of March. Moreover, Rama produced the higher values with respect to number of capsules plant-1, number of seeds capsule-1 and test weight. Among sowing dates, sowing of crop during 2nd day of March gave significantly higher gross returns, net return and return per INR investment. Irrespective of cultivars, Rama (V1) gave significantly higher economic return as compared to Savitri and Tillotama during 2013 and 2014, respectively. The results indicated that sowing of sesame within 2nd March to 12th March is the optimum sowing dates of sesame to have optimum seed yield if grown as late summer crop. Based on the result obtained, it can be concluded that cultivar Rama can be adopted in this region during summer season, because of its highest seed yield ability.