Crop Growth,Yield Attributes,Yield and Quality of Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) as Influenced by Spacing and Fertilizer Levels

A field experiment was conducted during Kharif season-2019 at Agricultural Research Station, Chintamani, Karnataka. The experiment consisted of four levels of spacing (45 × 15, 45 × 30, 60 × 15, and 60 × 30 cm) and three levels of fertilizer (40:20:20, 60:40:40 and 80:60:60 kg NPK ha-1). The experiment was arranged in a statistical design of Factorial Randomized Complete Block Design (FRCBD) with three replications to determine the influence of different spacing and fertilizer levels on growth, yield and quality of chia (Salvia hispanica L). The report of the study indicated that the wider spacing of 60 × 30 cm produced a significantly higher number of primary branches per plant (22.38), secondary branches plant-1 (27.69), Dry matter accumulation plant-1 (146.09 g) and leaf area plant-1 (4292 cm2), number of spikes plant-1 (81.68), number of spikelets spike-1 (28.50), spike length (14.82 cm), seed weight spike-1 (0.23 g), seed yield plant-1 (18.62 g), seed yield (1015.92 kg ha-1), haulm yield (4765.26 kg ha-1), protein (22.93% ) and oil content (29.44%) as compared to 45 × 30, 45 × 15 cm and 60 × 15 cm spacing’s. However, lower spacing of 45 × 15 cm registered significantly higher plant height (125.57 cm), leaf area index (7.19 at 90 DAS), crop growth rate and relative growth rate over other levels. Among the fertilizer levels, application of 80:60:60 kg NPK ha-1 noticed significantly higher plant height (125.59 cm), primary branches (22.47), secondary branches(27.63), dry matter accumulation (131.47 g) and leaf area plant-1 (4556 cm2), number of spikes plant-1 (72.26), seed yield plant-1 (12.65 g), seed yield ha-1 (1020.53 kg ha-1), haulm yield (4124.91 kg ha-1) at harvest and also observed faster Crop Growth Rate, Relative Growth Rate and Leaf Area Index over other fertilizer level of 60:40:40 kg NPK ha-1 and 40:20:20 kg NPK ha-1 at all the growth stages of the crop but oil content and omega -3-fatty acid(Alpha-linolenic acid) content was obtained at lower fertilizer level of 40:20:20 NPK kg ha-1 (30.96% and 55.65% respectively) and higher level of fertilizer 80:60:60 NPK kg ha-1 recorded maximum protein content (22.67%). Significantly higher seed yield (1122 kg ha-1) was obtained in the treatment combination of 60 × 30 cm with 80:60:60 kg NPK ha-1 compared to other treatments.