EFFECT OF SOWING DATE AND POPULATION DENSITY ON YIELD AND YIELD CONTRIBUTING CHARACTERS OF SESAME

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at research field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University. Dhaka during the period from March to July, 2008 with a view to study the effect of date of sowing and population density on yield and yield contributing characters of sesame. The experiment consisted of four sowing dates (20 March, 30 March. 9 April and 19 April) and thur population density levels (666666. 333333. 222222 and 166666 plants ha4 ). The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The result showed significant variations between date of sowing for all the crop characters viz, plant height, branches plant", capsules branch". total capsules plant", effective capsules plant", non-effective capsules

length of capsule. filled seeds capsule", unlilled seeds capsule". 1000-seed weight, seed yield, seed/capsule wall ratio, stover yield, and han'est index. The highest seed yield (1.55 t ha") was recorded from 20 March sowing. Population density had significant effect on all the parameters studied except urililled seeds capsule4. The highest seed yield (1.54 t ha") was recorded from 666666 plants hi'. The interaction between sowing date and population density exerted its significant effect on all the parameters studied except total capsules plant". The highest seed yield (5.27 1 ha'1 ) of sesame was obtained from sowing March 20 along with 666666 plants ha".