Effect of agro-chemicals on yield attributes, yield and economics of late sown Indian mustard under rainfed condition (Brassica juncea L.)

Introduction

As a major oil producer, importer, exporter, and grower, India is one of the four main stakeholders in the world oilseed or vegetable oil market (De and Sinha, 2011). Oilseed crops have formed the core of many agricultural economic theories from ancient times and are important to global trade and agricultural enterprises. Oilseeds are cultivated all over India and are regarded as a significant crop group because of their high economic importance. The oil derived from these products is finding more and more uses in industry, agriculture, and human health. The main oilseed crop that can assist in resolving India's edible oil demandsupply imbalance is rapeseed-mustard. Holding over 14% of the world's oilseed area, 8% of its oilseed production, and a second-place ranking in rapeseed-mustard production, the nation is one of the greatest vegetable oil economies in the world. This crop is India's main edible oilseed crop, producing almost one-third of the nation's oil (Kumar and Chauhan, 2005). The area, production, and productivity of oil rapeseed-mustard in India have been varying because of a number of biotic and abiotic stressors, despite the oil's high quality and broad adaptation to different agroclimatic conditions. Rapeseed-mustard is the most extensively grown oilseed crop worldwide. It is the primary oilseed crop in Rajasthan's rabi season and is mostly grown under irrigated and conserved moisture conditions. Humans in the country use it in a variety of ways, particularly edible oil. Crop Brassicas include a wide variety of plants that are cultivated as vegetables, fodder, or as sources of sauces and oils. One of the most highly profitable agricultural products is the oleaceous Brassica species, also referred to as rapeseed or mustard. Eight distinct types of rapeseed-mustard viz. Indian mustard, toria, yellow sarson, brown sarson, gobhi sarson, karan rai, black mustard, and taramira are grown in 53 countries worldwide. Rai is primarily a rainfed crop that can withstand drought and is somewhat tolerant of soil acidity, favoring a pH between 5.5 and 6.8. It grows best in regions with hot days and cool nights. Sandy loam soil that drains properly is necessary for mustard. The low water requirements of rapeseed-mustard (240-400 mm) make it a good choice for rainfed cropping systems. In addition to being the primary need, balanced fertilizer use is a prerequisite for increasing the effectiveness of main nutrients that are typically supplied and other secondary inputs that improve mustard yield and quality. Harvesting a good yield is dependent on environmental stressors and soil moisture. Therefore, appropriate management techniques should be used to maximize water holding capacity, reduce environmental stress, and save moisture of the soil. Salicylic acid (SA), a plant growth regulator has been found to generate a wide range of metabolic and physiological responses in plants thereby affecting their growth and development (Hayat et al., 2010). Salicylic Acid enhanced drought tolerance in mustard, inhibition of ethylene synthesis under drought stress, also influencing proline metabolism and photosynthesis resulted in efficient translocation of metabolism toward sink. When the two chemicals were applied together there was an additive effect on growing plants since hydrogel improve soil moisture level and SA minimizes environmental stress simultaneously. All the major nutrient viz. Nitrogen, phosphorus and Sulphur play important role in increasing the yield and quality of mustard. Nitrogen is known to activate most of metabolic activities and transformation of energy. Phosphorus is essential role of cell division and meristematic growth of tissue. The foliar applications of thiourea at critical crop stages particularly at 50% flowering and 50% siliquae formation, supplemental Sulphur and improve the photosynthetic efficiency partitioning chlorophyll contents, shoot dry matter and 1,000-seed weight (Jagetiya and Kaur, 2006).

Method and materials

The present investigation entitled "Effect of Agro-chemicals on yield attributes, yield and economic of late sown Indian Mustard (Brassica juncea L.) under rainfed condition)" was conducted at Agronomy Research Farm of Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj, Ayodhya (U.P.) during the Rabi season of 2023-24. The farm is located at 42 km away from Ayodhya city on Ayodhya-Raebareli Road at 26.47˚ N latitude, 82.12E longitude and an altitude about 113 meters above the mean sea level. The soil of field experimental field was silty loam in texture, pH 8.25, organic carbon (0.32%), E.C. (0.35 dSm -1 ) and initial available nitrogen (173.91 kg ha -1 ), phosphorus (14.45 kg ha -1 ) and potassium (295.25 kg ha -1 ). The experiment comprised of ten treatments and replicated thrice in Randomized Block Design viz. T 1 , Control (RDF); T 2 , Water spray at 50% flowering and at siliquae formation; T 3 , Salicylic acid @ 200 ppm at 50% flowering; T 4 , Salicylic acid @ 200 ppm at siliquae formation; T 5 , Salicylic acid @ 200 ppm at 50% flowering and at siliquae formation; T 6 , Thiourea @ 0.5% at 50% flowering; T 7 , Thiourea @ 0.5% at siliquae formation; T 8 , Thiourea @ 0.5% at 50% flowering and siliquae formation; T 9 , Thiourea @ 0.5% at 50% flowering + Salicylic acid @ 200 ppm at siliquae formation and T 10 , Salicylic acid @ 200 ppm at 50% flowering + Thiourea @ 0.5% at siliquae formation. Mustard variety RH-725 was used under the experiment. Recommended dose on NPK is 60:40:40. N is given by Urea while P is given by SSP and K is given by MOP. The data were analyzed as per the standard procedure for "Analysis of Variance" (ANOVA) (Gomez and Gomez 1976).

Results and discussion

Yield attributes and yield

Yield and its attributes are a complex character which involves the interaction of several intrinsic and external factors. It largely depends upon the production and mobilization of carbohydrates, uptake of water and nutrients from the soil, in addition to several environmental factors to which plant is exposed during the growing period. Table 1 reveals that in all the combinations T 10: Salicylic acid @ 200 ppm at 50% flowering + Thiourea @ 0.5% at siliquae formation enhanced the Yield Attributes i.e. No. of Siliquae plant -1 (426.67), No. of seed siliquae -1 (22.33), Length of siliquae (5.43 cm), Test Weight (5.60 g) and found superior over all the treatment combinations, which was statistically at par with T 9: Thiourea @ 0.5% at 50% flowering + Salicylic acid @ 200 ppm at siliquae formation. The lowest yield attributes were observed under control. Thiourea helps in improvement in the source and sink strength, efficient loading and translocation of photo assimilate are also required for maximizing the level of sink. The significant increase in the apoplastic loading volume and sucrose translocation (Srivastava et al., 2008).

Yields

A perusal of the data on seed and stover yield presented in table 2 reveals that application of T 10: Salicylic acid @ 200 ppm at 50% flowering + Thiourea @ 0.5% at siliquae formation produced the maximum seed yield (28.51) q ha -1 and stover yield (57.03) q ha -1 and found superior over all the treatment combinations, which was statistically at par with T 9: Thiourea @ 0.5% at 50% flowering + Salicylic acid @ 200 ppm at siliquae formation. The lowest yields were observed under control. A non-physiological thiol called thiourea has increased the stress tolerance and productivity of crops like maize and mustard (Amin et al., 2013, Yadav et al., 2020). Thiourea was applied topically to boost biological and economic yield, and it was also linked to a rise in the movement of sucrose metabolites from source to sink (Pandey et al., 2013). Effect of thiourea on plant growth and flowering might be due to its bio-regulatory effect chiefly through mobilization of dry matter and translocation of photosynthate to sink (Mishra et al., 2011).

Economics

Table 3 shows that the maximum gross returns (Rs. 110833 ha -1 ), net returns (Rs. 76117 ha -1 ), B:C (2.19) was recorded in T 10 Salicylic acid @ 200 ppm at 50% flowering + Thiourea @ 0.5% at siliquae formation as compared to the other treatments, which was statistically at par with T 9: Thiourea @ 0.5% at 50% flowering + Salicylic acid @ 200 ppm at siliquae formation. The lowest economic was observed under control. Our results confirm the findings of Premi et al. ( 2004) [1] , Singh et al. (2016) [2] and Shashidhar et al. (2020). In this study, the combined application of foliar application of Salicylic acid at flowering and Thiourea at siliqua formation is augmented the growth, yield, and quality of Indian mustard under water-deficit conditions. Hence it has the direct influence in improving economic efficiency and benefit: cost ratio. This technique can be popularized among the farmers in improving the economic efficiency of the Indian mustard cultivation in the region through large-scale demonstrations.

Conclusion

In conclusion, spray of Salicylic acid @ 200 ppm at 50% flowering + Thiourea @ 0.5% at siliquae formation gives significant improvement in quantitative (seed and stover yield), yield attributes and economics as compared to other treatments.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementThe authors express sincere gratitude to the Department of Agronomy, Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj, Ayodhya, for providing an excellent academic environment, research facilities, and unwavering support throughout the course of this study deeply thankful to all the respected teachers for their constructive suggestions, intellectual support, and continuous motivation during the planning, execution, and completion of the experiment. the university authorities for providing the necessary infrastructure, laboratory facilities, and experimental field required for conducting this investigation successfully. My heartfelt appreciation goes to the technical and field staff for their cooperation, assistance, and dedicated efforts during the experimental period.

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14. How to cite this article: Mishra ND, Singh A, Patel A, Yadav A, Singh N, Maurya S. Effect of agro-chemicals on yield attributes, yield and economics of late sown Indian mustard under rainfed condition (Brassica juncea L.). International Journal of Research in Agronomy. 2026;9(9):1011-1014. doi: https://www.d oi.org/10.33545/2618060X.2026.v9.i9n.6637