TITLE:
Integrated Nutrient Management of Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) under Rainfed Conditions
AUTHORS:
Obaid Afzal, Muhammad Asif, Mukhtar Ahmed, Fahad Karim Awan, Muhammad Aqeel Aslam, Ammara Zahoor, Muhammad Bilal, Farid Asif Shaheen, Muhammad Asif Zulfiqar, Nazeer Ahmed
KEYWORDS:
Safflower, Integrated Nutrient Management (INM), Yield, Rainfed
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.8 No.9,
August
16,
2017
ABSTRACT: Optimistic and sustainable supply
of soil available nutrients to crop plants enhances productivity. Integrated nutrient
management (INM) approach can improve soil fertility on long term
basis. The present study was
conducted to determine effects of INM on quantitative and qualitative
characters of two Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) cultivars “Thori-78 and Leed-00”. Five treatments using different
composition of poultry litter, farm yard manure, nitrogen and phosphorous
fertilizers with recommended dose as a control measure were replicated thrice
in randomized complete design. The results of field trial depicted maximum plant height (174.6 cm), number
of heads plant-1 (42.67), number of seeds head-1 (59.0), thousand seed weight (42.26 g), biological
yield (3089 Kg·ha-1) and seed yield
(455.2 Kg·ha-1) recorded from
combined application of FYM @ 2 t·ha-1and Half (N-P) (soil application) (T5) in
Genotype “Leed-00” which was statistically different from all other treatments.
Thori-78 also showed increase in yield and yield components under the same
treatment (T5) i.e.2 t·ha-1 FYM and Half (N-P).No effect of INM was found on fatty acid composition
of safflower cultivars. The correlation coefficients illustrated positive and
significant association of seed yield with plant height (0.89), number of heads
pod-1 (0.86) and number of seeds head-1 (0.83) as a result of application of selected
treatment. These results demonstrated the significance of INM in safflower
yield improvement under rainfed conditions.