Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture 36: 1-10, doi: 10.3897/ejfa.2024.123227

Effects of lignite-based sulphur fertilizer levels on soil properties and growth of Brassica napus

Azmat Ali Nosher^‡, Abdul Manaf^‡, Qaiser Hussain^‡, Sehrish Anwar^‡, Rana Noman Anwar^‡, Laiba Mukhtar^‡, Yamin Bibi^§, Saleh H. Salmen^|, Mohammad Javed Ansari^¶, Abdul Qayyum^#

‡ PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Rawalpindi, Pakistan§ Rawalpindi Women University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan| King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia¶ Hindu College Moradabad (Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University Bareilly), Moradabad, India# The University of Haripur, Haripur, Pakistan

Corresponding author: Abdul Manaf ( drmunaf@uaar.edu.pk )

Corresponding author: Abdul Qayyum ( aqayyum@uoh.edu.pk )

Academic editor: Fernando Lidon

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation: Nosher AA, Manaf A, Hussain Q, Anwar S, Anwar RN, Mukhtar L, Bibi Y, Salmen SH, Ansari MJ, Qayyum A (2024) Effects of lignite-based sulphur fertilizer levels on soil properties and growth of Brassica napus. Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture 36: 1-10. https://doi.org/10.3897/ejfa.2024.123227

Abstract

Lignite and sulphur are instrumental in enhancing the growth and yield-related traits of Brassica napus, commonly known as rapeseed. This study aimed to explore the effects of lignite-based sulphur fertilizers on Brassica napus production. Spanning two consecutive seasons, the experiment included treatments with a control group, three levels of elemental sulphur (30, 40, and 50 kg ha^-1), and three levels of lignite-based sulphur fertilizer (30, 40, and 50 kg ha^-1). Employing a randomized complete block design with four replications, the study revealed that applying lignite-based sulphur fertilizer at a rate of 50 kg ha^-1 led to significant improvements in various growth parameters, such as plant height, primary and secondary branches per plant, pods per plant, pod length, seeds per pod, biological yield, seed yield, thousand seed weight, and oil yield. Notably, substantially higher seed and oil yields were achieved with the application of 50 kg ha^-1 of lignite-based sulphur fertilizer. In semi-arid climates, to maximize rapeseed yield, yield components, and quality, it is advisable to utilize lignite-based sulphur fertilizer at a rate of 50 kg ha^-1.

Keywords

Lignite, Elemental sulphur, Lignite-based sulphur fertilizer, Brassica napus