Management of Podrot, Oil Content, and Pod Weight of Benniseed in an Ultisols

Abstract

Benniseed (Sesanum indicum L) is a well known oilÐseed crop grown mostly in the Savannah areas of Nigeria, and with little cultivation in the forest south. A two-season experiment was conducted in 1997 and 1998 to determine the effect of plant population and nitrogen application on podrot, oil content and pod weight of benniseed in the rain forest belt of Nigerian. Analysis of variance indicated that only the podrot and oil content were affected by plant population. An increase of 15.6% and 16.2% in oil content was recorded when plant population increase from 111,111, to 250,000 plants/ ha recorded list podrot 2.02; 2.30 in 1st and 2nd seasons while 60kg/ha recorded lowest podrot 2.59; 2.63 in 1997 and 1998, respectively. The 0kg/ha (control) recorded highest podrot 3.14; 3.46 in 1997 and 1998, respectively. An increase of 15.6% and 16.2% oil company was recorded when plant population increased from 111,111 to 250,000 plants/ha in the 1st and 2nd seasons, respectively. Further increase from 62,500 to 111,111 resulted to further increase of 4.6 and 5.2 in the 1st and 2nd seasons, respectively. The 9kg is highly significant on podrot (P<0.05) moreso, interaction effect of plant population and nitrogen application were highly significant on pod weight with 250,000 plants/ha and 60kg/ha nitrogen recording highest pod weight in 1997 and 1998, respectively. Mean values of main effect indicated optimal yield at the highest plant population of 250,000 plants/ha in the 1st and 2nd seasons. However, yield were highest at combination of 60kg/ha and 250,000 plants/ha in all the seasons investigated.

Keywords: Management , Podrot, Oil content, Pod Weight, Benniseed, Ultisols

Discovery and Innovation Vol. 19 (3) 2007: pp. 172-176