Sitangshu Sarkar, International Journal of Advances in Agricultural Science and Technology, Vol.4 Issue.2, February- 2017, pg. 26-31 ISSN: 2348-1358 Impact Factor: 6.057 © 2017, IJAAST All Rights Reserved, www.ijaast.com 26 Productivity and Quality of Different Varieties of Olitorius Jute Seed Produced in Western Odisha Sitangshu Sarkar Crop Production Division, ICAR-Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres, Nilgunj, Barrackpore, Kolkata-700 120, West Bengal, E-mail: sarkaragro@gmail.com Abstract: Field experiment was conducted for two consecutive years (2010-2011) at Sambalpur in western Odisha to study the feasibility of producing olitorius jute seed and assessing the quality of the seed produced. The jute seed yield for 6 olitorius varieties varied between 933 kg/ha (cv. JRO 8432) and 725 kg/ha (cv. S 19) which were comparable in general for olitorius jute seed productivity, might be due to favourable climatic condition (initial good distribution of monsoon rain and later dry spell at seed maturity stage) and proper crop management practices. The germination percentage of all the tested varieties was always better (99 to 85%) than the prescribed minimum level of 80%. Speed of germination was the highest in JBO 2003H (91.83) & JRO 524 (90.57) and the lowest in JRO 8432 (49.87). The maximum vigour index was for S 19 (1950) closely followed by JRO 204 (1853). The net return per rupee investment was the maximum in JRO 8432 (1.18) due to higher seed yield, followed by JRO 524 (1.05) and JRO 204 (0.80). Keywords: Jute; Corchorus olitorius; seed yield; seed quality; western Odisha 1. Introduction Importance of jute in the agrarian economy of eastern India especially West Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Odisha is well established. Around 5000 tonnes of quality seed is required for sowing about 0.8 million hectare of jute area now under cultivation in India, while the annual seed production of certified seeds is only to the tune of 1500 to 2000 tonnes and it can cover only around 35% of total jute acreage in India. In India, jute seed is traditionally produced in the drier areas of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka states. Whereas, the same seed is transported to the jute fibre growing states like West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam and other north-eastern states. Timely availability of jute seed in the fibre producing states is not ensured; moreover, long distance transportation cost adds to the price of jute seed which often goes beyond the purchasing power of common farmers. In Odisha the jute fibre growing districts are Kendrapara, Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Keonjhar, Jajpur etc. The jute fibre area in Odisha is about 11,880 ha with a productivity of 17.41 q/ha (Panda and Ranasingh, 2013). So, Odisha needs about 83,160 kg of jute seed every year for which she depends on jute seed producing southern or western states. The western part of Odisha might be suitable for jute seed production, at least up to the extent to meet own requirement. Moreover, to achieve higher jute fibre productivity for Odisha, timely ensured supply of quality jute seed is a necessity. But so far, there were no systematic effort to study the feasibility of producing jute seeds in the drier areas of western Odisha. In spite of topography, soil condition and rainfall variability during the monsoon season, traditionally only paddy is grown in the western Odisha region, which is unproductive and not profitable (Sarkar et al., 2013 a ). Therefore, with an aim to produce quality jute seed in western Odisha and to enhance farmers profitability, the present study on feasibility of growing jute seed of recent olitorius varieties (since olitorius areas are more than 90% of total jute area) were tried in Sambalpur district of western Odisha.