Mechanical sowing of safflower on broad bed furrow

The mechanical sowing of safflower was carried out on broad bed furrow (BBF) to find out overall benefit over traditional method of sowing in Rabi season (winter) of 2009. The average soil moisture in BBF method and traditional method was observed 29.99 % and 27.36%, respectively. For sowing of safflower in BBF method, spacing between rows and the cropping pattern was changed over traditional method. The sowing was carried out in pair rows by introducing BBF between them. Row to row spacing between crop rows on broad bed was kept 30 cm with 60 cm of bed width. The plant to plant spacing (20 cm) was kept same as in traditional method of sowing safflower crop. The average depth of placement of seed in BBF method was observed to be 4.44 cm and in traditional method it ranges from 2 to 2.5 cm. The sowing of safflower on BBF resulted in conservation of moisture in soil which was observed to be 9.61 % more as compared to traditional method of sowing. The conserved soil moisture has shown higher yield in BBF method. The observed yield of crop in BBF method was 8.81 q/ha and in traditional method it was 8.27 q/ha. It has seen that adoption of BBF sowing for safflower resulted in higher yield (6.50 % more) than traditional method of sowing. Also, performance of the BBF sowing has been compared with the traditional sowing method for the cost of operation. In BBF method of sowing cost of operation was observed to be $ 16.39 per hectare. In traditional method of sowing, cost of operation was found to be $ 26.50 per hectare. Use of BBF method of sowing safflower crop saves about 58 % of cost of operation over traditional method.