Effect of Organic Fertilizers and Integrated Nutrient Management on Growth, Yield Components, Seed Yield and Oil Production of Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.)

Abstract

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is a valuable oilseed crop in Pakistan, but its yields remain low, partly because of poor soil fertility and unbalanced fertilization. This study is designed to evaluate farmyard manure (FYM), vermicompost and their combinations with mineral NPK fertilizer for the growth, yield and oil production of sesame at Tando Jam, Sindh. Seven treatments are compared in a randomized complete block design with three replications: unfertilized control (T₁), FYM at 5 t ha⁻¹ (T₂), vermicompost at 5 t ha⁻¹ (T₃), recommended NPK (T₄), FYM + 50% NPK (T₅), FYM + 100% NPK (T₆) and vermicompost + 50% NPK (T₇). Plant height, stem diameter, branches and capsules per plant, seeds per capsule, thousand-seed weight, biological yield, seed yield, harvest index, oil content and oil yield are recorded. In the illustrative dataset, every fertilized treatment exceeded the control, and FYM + 100% NPK (T₆) gave the highest seed yield (1,080 kg ha⁻¹; 66% above the control), oil content (45.2%) and oil yield (488.2 kg ha⁻¹). Vermicompost + 50% NPK (T₇) ranked second, reaching 95% of the T₆ seed yield with half the mineral fertilizer. Gains in oil yield came mainly from higher seed yield rather than from oil concentration. These patterns suggest that organic manures perform best when combined with mineral fertilizer and that partial replacement of NPK with vermicompost merits field validation. Final recommendations will be based on ANOVA and LSD comparisons of the measured data.