Garden cress (Lepidium sativum) growth, productivity and nutrient uptake under different sowing dates, row spacing and nitrogen levels

An experiment was conducted during two consecutive rabi seasons of 2005–06 and 2006–07 to study the effect of sowing date (31 October, 15 and 30 November), row spacing (30 and 40 cm) and nitrogen level (0, 20, 40 and 60 kg/ha) on productivity of garden cress (Lepidium sativum L.) grown on irrigated loamy sand soil. The experiment was carried out in split plot design keeping sowing dates and row spacing in main plots and nitrogen levels in sub plots. Higher dry matter production, leaf area duration, chlorophyll content, seeds/plant, seed (1.78 t/ha), stover (5.22 t/ha) and biological yields (7.00 t/ha), harvest index (25.3%), B:C ratio (2.07) and N (82.9 kg/ha), P (21.6 kg/ha) and K uptake (71.7 kg/ha) was recorded under October 31 sown crop as compared to November 15 and 30 sown crop. Spacing of 40 cm resulted in higher dry matter accumulation, leaf area duration, seeds/plant, seed (1.56 t/ha), stover (4.71 t/ha) and biological yields (6.27 t/ha), B:C ratio, N, P and K uptake as compared to 30 cm wide sown crop. Application of 60 kg N/ha gave significantly higher seed (1.77 t/ha), stover (5.16 t/ha) and biological yields (6.92 t/ha), harvest index (25.42%), B:C ratio (1.98) and N (94.4 kg/ha), P (23.6 kg/ha) and K uptake (73.6 kg/ha) as compared to lower levels.