Enhancing productivity and profitability of sesame in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is one of the most important oilseed crops grown next to groundnut in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. The productivity of sesame in the district is low and attempts were made to increase the area and improve the productivity by adopting high yielding variety along with integrated crop management (ICM) practices. The ICM practices including sowing of improved variety (YLM 66), seed treatment with mancozeb @ 30g/kg seed + neem oil application at 25–30 DAS+ arrangement of sticky traps to monitor sucking pest vectors + spraying of monocrotophos @ 1.6 ml/L of water at flowering to pod formation stage for insect management + spraying of carbendazim for control of leaf spot was demonstrated in farmer's field. The results revealed that increase in seed yield over farmers’ practice was 40.0 and 30.10 per cent during 2019–20 and 2020–21, respectively. In terms of economics, it was observed that demo practices recorded higher net returns/ha compared to farmer's practice during the years 2019–20 and 2020–21. The benefit cost ratio during 2019–20 and 2020–21 was 3.23 and 3.31, respectively. The percent technology index varied between 24.6 to 42.0 per cent indicating a need to motivate the farmers to adopt economical viable technologies for increasing production, productivity and profitability of oilseed crops in Nellore district.