Sulphur and boron nutrition on growth, yield and economics of Niger [Guizotia abyssinica Cass.] under rainfed conditions of Northern Transition Tract of Karnataka

A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2016 at Main Agricultural Research Station, Dharwad. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications. The main plots comprised of five sulphur levels and sub plots comprised of boron applications at three different stages. Application of 20 kg sulphur ha-1 with sulphur oxidizing biofertilizer recorded higher seed yield (628 kg ha-1), oil content (39.77%) and oil yield (249.9 kg ha-1) of niger. Niger seed yield (597 kg ha-1), oil content (38.78%) and oil yield (232.01 kg ha-1) was also increased by foliar spray of solubor at branching and flowering over no foliar spray. Application of sulphur @ 10 kg ha-1 with sulphur oxidizing biofertilizer along with foliar application of boron at branching recorded significantly higher seed yield (630 kg ha-1), oil content (38.51%) and oil yield (243.24 kg ha-1) over without sulphur and boron applications. Higher total sulphur and boron uptake was obtained with the application of sulphur 20 kg ha-1 with sulphur oxidizing biofertilizer along with foliar application of boron at branching and flowering (4.62 kg ha-1 and 16.65 g ha-1 respectively) as compared to control.