Effect of Sowing Dates on Growth and Yield of Toria under Rainfed Condition

A study was conducted in rabi, 2020-21 on effect of sowing dates on growth and yield of rapeseed under rainfed condition. The treatments consisted of 3 dates of sowing viz., 30^th October, 15^th November and 1^st December. The results revealed that sowing the crop on different dates had significant effect on most of the growth and yield attributes. There was significant increase in plant height, dry matter accumulation, number of leaves, leaf area, leaf area index (LAI), crop growth rate (CGR), relative growth rate (RGR) from 30 days after sowing (DAS) to harvest. However, there was no significant effect on RGR at 60 DAS-harvest. Dates of sowing did not show any significant effect on test weight. Among the different sowing dates, the crop sown on 15^th November recorded highest seed yield and harvest index (8.93 q/ha and 44.30% respectively) which was significantly higher than the crop sown on 1^st December.