EFFECT OF RELAY AND TRADITIONAL METHODS OF SOWING ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF LENTIL VARIETIES IN LENTIL-FALLOW-T. AMAN RICE PATTERN

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the farmer’s field of village Bodikona, Upazila-South Surma in Sylhet district during the period from November 2012 to March 2013 to know the performance of lentil varieties viz. BARI masur-3, BARI masur-4, BARI masur-6 and BARI masur-7 under traditional and relay sowing methods with T. aman rice. Design of the experiment was split plot assigning sowing methods in the main plots and varieties in the sub-plots. Plant characters studied in the experiment were days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant population m , plant height, number of branch plant -2 , 100-seed weight, seed and straw yields and harvest index. The results revealed that sowing methods produced significant effect on days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant population m -1 , number of pod plant -1 , number of seed pod -1 , number of pod plant -2 , number of branch plant -1 , seed yield and straw yield. Significantly lower seed yield was obtained from relay sowing than traditional method mainly because of lower plant population m -1 , number of seed pod -1 , number of branch plant -2

and seed pod -1 and pod plant -1 . All characters except plant height, number of branch plant -1 differed significantly among the varieties. The variety BARI masur-7 produced the highest seed yield (541.6 kg ha -1

and 100-seed weight along with moderate plant population m -1 ) which was mainly contributed by the highest number of pod plant -1 . Interaction of sowing method and variety also exhibited significant effect on all characters except number of branch plant -2

and seed pod -1 , pod plant -1 ) followed by BARI masur-4 (575.2 kg ha -1 . Variety BARI masur-7 produced the highest seed yield (614.8 kg ha -1 ) in the traditional method of sowing attributed by the higher plant population m -1 and 100-seed weight. These two varieties performed better in both the sowing methods. BARI masur-7 gave maximum gross margin (Tk. 7524 ha -2 , number of pod plant -1 ) in relay method which was followed by gross margin (Tk. 5878 ha -1 -1 ) of the same variety in traditional method.