Performance of Toria (Brassica campestrisvar. toria) on sulphur nutrition and soil test based nutrient management practice in farmers’ field of West-Bengal Himalayan range

Abstract

An on-farm trial was conducted in the farmers’ field during 2013-14 and 2014-15 to assess the technology of application of sulphur on Toria (Brassica campestrisvar. toria)along with soil test based nutrient management practice under rain-fed condition at brown forest soil of the Himalayan range of West Bengal. The experiment was conducted at the seven villages namely Bong Busty, Charkhol, Sangsey, Bungkulung, Sakyong, Pudung, Didabling of Kalimpong district at an altitude ranged between 1210 m to 1300m . Significantly higher values of no. of primary branches (9.78); no. of siliquaplant^-1 (82.12); no. of seeds siliqua^-1 (35.51) as well as seed yield (1023 kg ha^-1) were recorded with soil test based nutrient management practice along with soil application of sulphur (80%) @ 20kg ha^-1as basal compared to the farmers’ practice. The soil application of sulphur and soil test based nutrient management practice also fetched higher return per rupee invested (1.61) compared to the other treatments. No remarkable change was observed in soil fertility status after two years of experimentation. As it was an adoptive trial with the participation of farmers, the necessity of soil test based nutrient management practice and application of sulphur have been well realized by the participating farmers.