EFFECT OF DATE OF SOWING ON THE DURATION OF PHENOPHASES IN SORGHUM IN WESTERN MAHARASHTRA AGROCLIMATIC ZONE

GANGARAJU SUBRAMANYAM¹*, S.B. KHARBADE², A.A. SHAIKH³, R. BALASUBRAMANIAN⁴, B.B. FAND⁵, V.A. STHOOL^6
1Department of Agricultural Meteorology, College of Agriculture, Pune, 411005, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, 413722, Maharashtra India
²College of Agriculture, Nadurbar, 425412, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, 413722, Maharashtra India
³Department of Agricultural Meteorology, College of Agriculture, Pune, 411005, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, 413722, Maharashtra India
⁴Scientist-D, India Meteorological Department, Pune, 411005, India
⁵Scientist, ICAR-Central Cotton Research Institute, Nagpur, 441108, India
⁶Department of Agricultural Meteorology, College of Agriculture, Pune, 411005, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, 413722, Maharashtra India
* Corresponding Author : subramanyam036@gmail.com

Received : 15-10-2018     Accepted : 26-10-2018     Published : 30-10-2018
Volume : 10     Issue : 20       Pages : 7352 - 7355
Int J Agr Sci 10.20 (2018):7352-7355

Keywords : Date of planting, Phenophases, Panicle initiation, 50 % flowering, Physiological maturity
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Author thankful to College of Agriculture, Pune, 411005, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, 413722, Maharashtra India. Author also thankful to India Meteorological Department, Pune, 411005, India
Author Contribution : All author equally contributed

Sorghum is the fifth most important cereal crop followed by rice, wheat, maize and barley in the world. Globally, sorghum is cultivated on 41 million hectares to produce 64.20 million tonnes with productivity covering around 16.0 qha-1 per hectare. Different sowing windows affects crop growth and yield considerably. Therefore, optimum sowing windows for better crop yield is essential. Crop yield depends on the duration of crop growth also, as it determines the grain filling duration of crops. This study discusses about how different sowing windows impacts the duration of crop growth. A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive years at the Department of Agricultural Meteorology Farm, College of Agriculture, Pune during rabi 2016 and 2017. The experiment was laid out in split -plot design with three replications with sixteen treatment combinations were formed considering different varieties and sowing windows. Main plot treatments were varieties which comprised of, Maldandi (M-35-1) Phule Vasudha, Phule Maulee and Phule Chitra. Sub plot treatments were sowing dates, which comprised of 35th MW (27 Aug-02 Sep), 37th MW (10 Sep-16 Sep), 39th MW (24 Sep- 30 Sep), 41st MW (08 Oct-14 Oct). Results showed that the days to panicle initiation (35 and 34) was observed significantly higher in 35th MW of sowing and it was at par with 37th MW of sowing (34 and 34), followed by 39th MW (S1) of (33 and 33), 41st MW (S4) (28 and 27) during both the seasons of 2016-17 and 2017-18, respectively. The days to 50 percent flowering (60 and 59) and was observed significantly lower in 41st MW (S4) sowing window, followed by 39th MW (S1) sowing window (71 and 70), 37th MW of sowing (73 and 72) and 35th MW of sowing window (75 and 73) during both the seasons of 2016-17 and 2017-18, respectively.

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