RESPONSE OF NITROGEN AND SPACING ON YIELD ATTRIBUTES AND YIELD OF FENUGREEK (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the research field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU), Dhaka during the rabi season of 2014-2015, to find out the optimum nitrogen fertilizer dose and suitable spacing for higher seed yield of fenugreek (var. BARI Methi 1). Four nitrogen levels (0, 40, 80 and 120 kg N ha-1) and three spacings (20 cm x 10 cm, 25 cm x 10 cm and 30 cm x 10 cm) were considered as treatments. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Nitrogen fertilization doses, spacings and their combinations exerted significant influence on yield attributes and seed yield of fenugreek. Application of 120 kg N ha-1 and the spacing of 30 cm x 10 cm, independently provided the maximum plant height (36.22 cm and 32.7 cm at 80 days after sowing (DAS)), number of leaves plant-1(260.6 and 256.9 at 80 DAS), plant spread (26.14 cm and 22.65 cm at 80 DAS), number of primary (4.70 and 4.10) and secondary branches (3.70 and 3.44) plant-1, number of pods plant-1(14.0 and 13.5), weight of individual pod (4.54 g and 4.6 g), number of seeds pod-1(14.0 and 13.50), weight of seeds pod-1(100.9 mg and 99.0 mg),1000-seed weight (7.7 g and 7.69 g) and seed yield plot-1 (284.1 g and 238.7g). Application of 120 kg N ha-1 and 30 cm x 10 cm spacing independently also produced maximum seed yield ha-1 (789.0 kg ha-1 and 663.3 kg ha-1). Application of nitrogen @ 120 kg ha-1 in combination with the spacing of 30 cm x 10 cm gave maximum yield attributes and thus gave the highest seed yield (801.7 kg ha-1) identical with 25 cm x 10 cm spacing with the same nitrogen level (787.9 kg ha-1).