~ 1833 ~ The Pharma Innovation Journal 2021; 10(10): 1833-1836 ISSN (E): 2277- 7695 ISSN (P): 2349-8242 NAAS Rating: 5.23 TPI 2021; 10(10): 1833-1836 © 2021 TPI www.thepharmajournal.com Received: 24-07-2021 Accepted: 27-08-2021 Shaik Sameer M.Sc. Scholar, Department of Agronomy, NAI, SHUATS, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India Vikram Singh Associate Professor, Department of Agronomy, NAI, SHUATS, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India Dhananjay Tiwari Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Agronomy, NAI, SHUATS, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India. Shruti G George Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Agronomy, NAI, SHUATS, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India Corresponding Author: Shaik Sameer M.Sc. Scholar, Department of Agronomy, NAI, SHUATS, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India Effect of Nitrogen and Phosphorus levels on growth and yield of Linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) Shaik Sameer, Vikram Singh, Dhananjay Tiwari and Shruti G George Abstract A field experiment was conducted to determine the “Effect of Nitrogen and Phosphorus levels on growth and yield of Linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.)” (var NEELAM) with 9 treatments in the Rabi season 2020 – 2021 with the different levels of Nitrogen (45, 60, 75 kg/ha) and Phosphrous (20, 40, 60 kg/ha) at Crop Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, SHUATS, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Results revealed that higher plant height (96.00 cm), plant dry weight (12.84 g), number of branches per plant (5.81), Number of capsule plant -1 (45.36), Number of seeds capsule -1 (9.46), 1000 grain weight (8.93 g), Seed yield (1.20 t/ha), Stover yield (2.84 t/ha), highest gross return (90,800.00 INR/ha), net returns (50,327.00 INR/ha) and benefit cost ratio (1.24) were obtained by the application of 75 kg Nitrogen/ha + 60 kg Phosphorus/ha. The successive increase in fertilizer levels of nitrogen and phosphorus increased the higher growth and yield attributes. Keywords: Linseed, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Growth and Yield 1. Introduction Oilseeds play a vital role in human life. Among these, linseed enjoys an important place, being used for domestic, industrial and medicinal purposes. In India, linseed has been cultivated from pre-historic times. Linseed is basically an industrial oilseed crop and its each and every part is endowed with commercial and medicinal importance. Linseed occupies a greater importance among oilseeds owing to its various uses and special qualities (Meena et al., 2011) [10] . Tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses is a very important characteristic of this crop. Linseed (Linum usitassimum L.) also known as flax is a member of genus Linum in the family Linaceae. Linseed is a self-pollinated crop widely adapted to temperate climate of the word. On a very small scale, the seed is directly used for edible purposes and about 20 % of the total oil is used by the farmers. India is the second largest (21.21 %) linseed growing country in the world after Canada and production-wise it ranks fourth (8.20 %) in the world after Canada (40.51 %), China (18.68 %), and USA (10.89 %). At present, linseed is cultivated in about 4.36 lakh hectares with contribution of 1.67 lakh tones to the annual oilseed production of the country. The average productivity of linseed is 671 kg/ha (2019-20). Edible linseed oil is used for human consumption and contains α- linolenic acid (ALA) a poly unsaturated fatty acid that has nutritional and health benefits, apart from ALA, linseed is widely used as nutritional and functional food in the western world due to its high contents of therapeutic health promoting sustains such as omega-3 fatty acid which helps to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Nitrogen is a structural component of chlorophyll and protein therefore adequate supply of nitrogen is beneficial for both carbohydrates and protein metabolism (Lawania et al., 2015) [9] . An excess or imbalance of this nutrient in relation to others, like phosphorus, can prolong the growing period and delay crop maturity. Excess supply of nitrogen also results in poorly developed root system and low root/shoot ratio. An adequate supply of nitrogen is associated with vigorous vegetative growth and dark green colour. It promotes cell division and cell enlargement, resulting in more leaf area and thus insuring better growth, development, plant vigour and yield (Patel et al., 2017) [11] . Similarly, phosphorus is an important plant nutrient which help in growth and development of a plant and ultimately improved crop yield. It involves in many biochemical function in physiological system of a plant. It is essential part of skeleton of plasma membrane, nucleic acid, many co – enzymes and phosporylated compound. It also stimulates fruit setting and seed formation (Yawalkar et al., 2002) [18] .