Effect of Irrigation Scheduling on Growth, Yield and Irrigation Water use Efficiency of Linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of irrigation scheduling on growth, yield and water use efficiency of linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) at Main Agricultural Research Station (MARS), Raichur, during the rabi season of 2023-24. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with five treatments, replicated four times. There were five treatments viz., T1: Pre sowing irrigation only, T2: Pre sowing irrigation fb one irrigation at vegetative stage (30-35 DAS), T3: Pre sowing irrigation fb two irrigations at vegetative stage (30-35 DAS) and flowering stage (40-45 DAS), T4: Pre sowing irrigation fb three irrigations at vegetative stage (30-35 DAS), flowering stage (40-45 DAS) and capsule development stage (60-65 DAS) and T5: Rainfed condition. The results revealed that significantly higher plant height (60.94 cm), number of branches plant-1 (6.18), leaf area (36.94 cm2 plant-1),  total dry matter production (16.41 g plant-1), number of capsules plant-1 (44.27),  number of seeds (8.18 capsule-1),  seed weight (2.98 g palnt-1), seed yield  (1106 kg ha-1) and straw yield  (2344 kg ha-1) was registered with pre-sowing irrigation fb three irrigations at vegetative stage (30-35 DAS), flowering stage (40-45 DAS) and capsule development stage (60-65 DAS) which was found to be on par with pre-sowing irrigation fb two irrigations at vegetative stage (30-35 DAS) and flowering stage (40-45 DAS). Further, (T4) recorded significantly lower water use efficiency (5.26 kg ha-mm-1). Whereas the treatment under rainfed conditions (T5) recorded significantly higher water use efficiency (13.59 kg ha-mm-1) than all other treatments.