Effect of Ammonium Sulphate Foliar Spray on Grain Yield and Yield Quality of Canola

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The experiment entitle “Effect of Ammonium Sulphate Foliar Spray on Grain Yield And Yield Quality of Canola” was conducted at the Palatoo Research farm Department of Agronomy, Amir Muhammad Khan Campus, Mardan during rabi season 2014-15. The treatments consist of Ammonium Sulphate (AS) 1%, 0.2%, 0.3% solution and water spray as control. The experiment layed out in randomized complete block design with four replications. The results indicated that application of 1% AS improved grain yield 3177 (control) to 3423 (treated), oil content 42.3% (control) to 45.7% (treated), gluccosinulates 65.2 micro mol gm-1 (control) to 70.1 micro mol gm-1 (treated), protein content 23.1% (control) to 23.6% (treated), grain Sulphur % 0.29 (control) to 0.32 (treated) and grain nitrogen %3.35 (control) to 3.89% of (treated). The application of AS 0.2% produced grain yield (3342 kg ha-1) oil content (43.2%) gluccosinulates (62.8micro mol gm-1) protein content (23.4%) grain Sulphur (0.30%) and grain nitrogen (3.11%). While the application of AS 0.3% produced grain yield (3245 kg ha-1) oil content (44.2%) gluccosinulates (67.1 micro mol gm-1) protein content (2.5%) grain Sulphur (0.31%) and grain nitrogen (3.0%). Therefore on the basis of this research at 1% AS is suggested for application on canola to improve its grain yield and yielding quality components.

 Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) belongs to the Cruciferae family the common species are Nigra, Carinata, juncea, oleracea and compestries. Rapeseed or mustard was grown from 300 Bc in Indus valley of Pakistan as a fodder crop. Rapeseed and mustard are traditional oil seed crops of Pakistan are grown in large area of four provinces of country. Canola was introduced in Pakistan during 1995 for general cultivation to replace traditional oilseed crops like rapes and mustards because of its low erucic acid contents and high yielding capacity. During 2011-12 in Pakistan the Canola crop was cultivated 14700 ha with the production of 7000 tones, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the area under cultivation was 1300 ha with a total production of 1800 tones.

Like all other crops, growth, developmental process and grain yield of canola depends upon biotic and a biotic factors. Sulfur is the fourth major plant nutrient after nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. It is essential for synthesis of the amino acids like cystine and methionine, a component of vitamin A and activates certain enzyme systems in plants. Edible oil is one of the basic requirements of our daily diet. Pakistan is suffering from acute deficiency in edible oil because of its increased consumption. The total availability of edible oil was 2.821 million tons. Local production of edible oil stood at 0.68 million tons, which is 24 percent of the total availability in the country. Sulphur has been reported to influence productivity of oil seed.