Effects of Sulphur and Lime Application on Yield of Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) in Southern Tanzania

Abstract

Yield and quality of oilseed crops are principally regulated by nutrient management at field level. Field experiments were conducted in Southern zone of Tanzania (Nachingwea and Naliendele) to study the effects of Sulphur and lime application on yield and yield components of sesame (Sesamun indicum). The soil texture of the study areas is sandy loam. The sesame variety Lindi 02, was grown during the cropping seasons 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 in a Randomized Completely Block Design. The source of Sulphur fertilizer was Elemental sulphur (S), while lime source was local lime. Three levels of S application (15, 30 and 45 kg ha-1), lime application in a rate of 37.5kg/ha and absolute control (without S and lime) were used as treatments of the experiment. Positive response between Lime application on yield components and seed yield of sesame was noticed in this study. The number of branches per plant, number of capsules in main stem was found to be higher with the application rate of 37.5 kg ha^-1 of Lime. Application of 37.5 kg ha^-1 of Lime recorded the highest seed yield. The highest seed yield (1185 kg ha^-1) was obtained from Nachingwea site. Sulphur application didn’t show any significant differences in both sites regardless of highest seed yield of 605 kg ha^-1 and 831 kg ha^-1 recorded at Naliendele and Nachingwea respectively.This study calls for further experiments using different rates of lime for increased sesame yields.

Keywords: Sesame, Lime, Sulphur, Yield, Southern Tanzania.