Effect of Soil Types and Sowing Methods on Growth and Yield of Some Varieties of Sesame (<i>sesamum indicum L.</i>) Grown in Dutse, Jigawa State

Abstract

A field trial on the effect of soil types and sowing methods on growth and yield of some varieties of sesame ( sesamum indicum L.) was  conducted at school farm Federal University Dutse Jigawa state (latitude 11.00̊ N to 13.00̊ N and longitude 8.00̊ E to 10.15̊ E) during the  2019 rainy season. The treatments used were three soil types (Clay, loam, sand) and two sowing methods (drilling and dibbling). Two  varieties of sesame namely EX-Sudan and E8 were used. A split-split plot design was used. Result showed that the number of leaves,  number of capsules per plant 1000 seed weight and seed yield per plant were significantly affected by sowing method with drilling  method producing the highest seed yield per plant and variety had significant effect on number of leaves per plant, days to 50% flowering and maturity and seed yield per plant with EX-Sudan manifesting the highest yield per plant. The interaction between varieties  were only significant on number of capsules/plant while between sowing method and variety was only significant on seed yield per plant.  Interaction between variety and soil type showed that V1S1 (EX-Sudan and Loamy soil) had the highest influence on plant growth parameters while V2S2 (E8 and Sandy soil) had the lowest. The results indicated that drilling is the best sowing method, loamy soil is the  best soil type for growing sesame while the variety EX-Sudan produced the highest seed yield and seed quality of sesame more than the  E8 variety. Thus, farmers could be recommended to adopt these agronomic practices using EX-Sudan for increased sesame production in  the Sudan savanna ecological zone of Nigeria.