Abstract :
This study was carried out to develop best suitable plant population of two safflower cultivars in rainfed condition. The experiment was conducted at Oilseeds Research unit Dr. P. D. K. V, Akola, during 2015-16 using a factorial randomized block design with three replications. Plant population were 1.66, 1.11, 0.83, 0.66 and 0.55 lakh plants/ha and cultivars included were Annigeri-1 and NARI 38. Branches per plant, effective capsules per plant, 100 seed weight and harvest index were significantly decreased as plant population increased. With increasing plant population, seed yield and biological yield were increased. The highest seed yield was obtained from plant population 1.66 lakh/ha (1150 kg/ha) which was at par with 1.11 lakh/ha plant population (1121 kg/ha) and lowest seed yield was recorded in 0.55 lakh/ha plant population (916 kg/ha). National check Annigeri-1 yielded higher seed yield than NARI-38 mainly due to higher number of effective capsules per plant. Similar trend was noticed in gross return, net return and B:C
Keyword :
safflower, plant population, variety