Nitrogen requirement of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) for growth and yield traits

Abstract

The field research was conducted to evaluate the appropriate nitrogen levels for growth, seed yield and relationship of plant characters of safflower at Students Farm, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, Pakistan. Nitrogen levels tested were; 0, 30, 60, 80, 120, 150 and 180 kg ha-1. The experiment was conducted in three-replicated Randomized Complete Block Design. The results revealed that all the crop parameters were affected significantly due to different levels of nitrogen. The performance of safflower (cv. Pawari-95) was significantly promising under nitrogen level of 120 kg ha -1 which produced significantly (p<0.01) greater branches (7.33), heavy seed index (38.66 g) and better seed yield (-694.66 kg ha-1) whereas, prolonged maturity days (172), tall plants (165.66 cm), more capsules (45.33) were recorded in the plots treated with 180 kg N ha-1. All the crop parameters were also positively associated with the seed yield. Thus, 120 kg N ha-1 was considered as the optimum level for getting maximum seed yield of safflower, further increase in N levels remained uneconomical by producing adverse effects on all crop parameters. It is recommended that safflower crop may be fertilized at the rate of 120 kg N ha-1 where satisfactory seed yield could be achieved. © 2006 Asian Network for Scientific Information.