Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T22:32:57.175Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Studies on the effect of nitrogen fertilizer, row spacing and use of antitranspirants on rapeseed (Brassica campestris) grown under dryland conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

B. B. Patil
Affiliation:
Division of Agronomy, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110012, India
Rajat De
Affiliation:
Division of Agronomy, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110012, India

Summary

An experiment is desoribed which was conducted for 2 years under dryland conditions of north-west India to evaluate the optimum rate of application of N fertilizer and plant population density for a rapeseed crop. Stomata closing (phenyl mercuric acetate), film forming(Mobileaf) and reflective type (kaolinite) antitranspirants were used to examine their effectson conservation of stored moisture for a possible increased water use efficiency under drylandconditions.

The rapeseed crop responded to N fertilizer and it was profitable to use 53 kg N/ha xinder these conditions. In a drier year a wider row spacing of 60 cm (1·1 x 106 plants/ ha) was significantly better than narrower spacing of 30 cm (2·2 xlO5 plants/ha). Plants grown in wider row spacings utilized less water during the vegetative and flowering stages than those grown in closer spacings.

The relative water content of leaves sprayed with antitranspirants was greater than in the control plants. The leaf temperature of the kaolinite-treated canopy was 1·5 °C lower than the ambient air temperature. Averaged over 2 years, the film-forming antitranspirant Mobileaf increased the seed yield by 26% while spraying with phenyl mercuric acetate at 50 and 75 days and kaolin application at 50 days increased the rapeseed yield by 11, 18 and 17% over the no antitranspirant treatment.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abou-Khaled, A., Hagan, R. M. & Davenport, D. C. (1970). Effects of kaolinite as a reflective antitranspirant on leaf temperature, transpiration, photosynthesis and water use efficiency. Water Resource Research 6, 280289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnon, I. (1972). Background and Principles. In Crop Production in Dry Regions, vol. I. London: Leonard Hill.Google Scholar
Arnon, I. (1975). Physiological principles of dryland crop production. In Gupta, U. S. (ed.), Physiological Aspects of Dryland Farming, pp. 3145. New Delhi: Oxford and I.B.H. Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Asthana, A. N. (1973). Comparative performance of Brassica species and eultivars under unirrigated conditions. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 43, 3841.Google Scholar
Bains, S. S. & Singh, R. P. (1971). Nothing succeeds like sarson on drylands. Indian Farming 21, 56.Google Scholar
Baees, H. D. & Wbatherley, P. E. (1962). A re-examination of the relative turgidity technique for estimating water deficits in leaves. Australian Journal of Biological Sciences 15, 413428.Google Scholar
Boyer, J. S. & McPherson, H. G. (1975). Physiology of water deficits in cereal. Advances in Agronomy 27, 123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, P. L. & Shrader, W. D. (1959). Grain yields, evapotranspiration and water use efficiency of grain sorghum under different cultural practices. Agronomy Journal 51, 339343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doraiswamy, P. C. & Rosenberg, N. J. (1974). Reflectant induced modification of soybean canopy balance. I. Preliminary test with kaolinite reflectant. Agronomy Journal 66, 224228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, H., Eslick, R. F. & Aase, J. K. (1973). Canopy temperatures of barley as influenced by morphological characteristics. Agronomy Journal 65, 425428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuehring, H. D. (1973). Effect of antitranspirants on yield of grain sorghum under limited irrigations. Agronomy Journal 65, 348351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuehring, H. D. (1975). Yield of dryland grain sorghum as affected by antitranspirant, nitrogen and contributing micro-watershed. Agronomy Journal 67, 256257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gale, J. & Hagan, R. M. (1966). Plant antitranspirants. Annual Review of Plant Physiology 17, 269282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsiao, T. C. & Acevedo, E. (1974). Plant responses to water deficits, water-use efficiency and drought resistance. Agricultural Meteorology 14, 5984.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kartha, A. R. S., Sethi, A. S. & Gulati, K. C. (1955). Rapid estimation of yield and iodine number of oils in small samples of oilseeds. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 25, 7984.Google Scholar
Larson, W. E. & Willis, W. O. (1957). Light, soil temperature, soil moisture and alfalfa red clover distribution between corn rows of various spacings and row directions. Agronomy Journal 49, 422426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patil, B. B. & De, R. (1976). Influence of antitranspirantson rapeseed (Brassica campestris) plants under water-stressed and nonstressed conditions. Plant Physiology 57, 941943.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peters, D. B. & Runexes, J. R. (1967). Shoot and root growth as affected by water availability. In Irrigation of Agricultural Lands, Hagan, R. M.et al. (eds), pp. 373386. Agronomy Series. Madison, Wisconsin: American Society of Agronomy.Google Scholar
Slatyer, R. O. & Bierhtjizen, J. F. (1964). The influence of several transpiration suppressants on transpiration and photosynthesis and water use efficiency of cotton leaves. Australian Journal of Biological Sciences 17, 131146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Viets, F. C. (1962). Fertilizers and efficient use of water. Advances in Agronomy 14, 223264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Viets, F. C. (1966). Increasing water use efficiency by soil management. In Plant Environment and Efficient Water Use, Pierre, W. H. et al. (eds), pp. 259274. Madison, Wisconsin: American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America.Google Scholar
Zelitch, I. (1963). The control and mechanisms of stomatal movement. In Stomata and Water Relations in Plants, Zelitch, I. (ed.), pp. 1842. Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 664.Google Scholar