Effect of different sowing dates and timings of last cut on yield attributes and seed yield of berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) Singh Surinder1*, Singh Kanwaljit2, Kaur Tarandeep3 1School of Organic Farming, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 001, Punjab, India 2Department of Agriculture, Khalsa College, Amritsar-143 002, Punjab, India 3Department of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 001, Punjab, India *Corresponding Author: Surinder Singh, School of Organic Farming, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 001, Punjab, India, Email: babbal1103@gmail.com
Online published on 22 July, 2021. Abstract Background Many genetical, physiological, environmental and organizational constraints associated with the low productivity of forage crops, but the most important among them is lack of quality seeds of improved cultivars to farmers. Scarcity of green fodder and low seed setting forces the farmers not to prefer for seed production. Weather extremities like unbalanced or untimely rains or high speed winds also affected seed setting. All these extremities lead to scarcity of berseem seed in Punjab and farmer are forced to paying high prices at the time of sowing. Maintaining the proper sowing time and time of last cut for fodder and for leaving the crop for seed production may help in keeping the balance between vegetative and reproductive phases for high seed yield to tackle these problems. Therefore, optimum sowing time and last cut is a very deciding factor to achieve maximum green fodder and seed yield. The current experiment aimed to study the effect of different sowing dates and timings of last cut on yield attributes and seed yield of berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum L). Methods In this experiment, crop was sown on five different dates with the broadcast method and also three dates of last cut of crop left for seed production. These treatments were replicated thrice. All other cultural practices were also maintained for optimum berseem productivity. The first cutting of fodder was taken after 55 days from sowing and thereafter 30 days interval. After the time of last cut, crop was left for seed production. At maturity, data on yield attributes were recorded. Result Our investigations revealed that late sown berseem increased the yield attributes and seed yield but decreased the green fodder yield. Therefore to get maximum seed production, it is suggested that late sown 20th October has the optimum date of sowing and optimum time for leave the crop is 25th March for seed production. Top Keywords Berseem, Cut, Fodder, Seed yield, Sowing date. Top |