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This study was carried out at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Agronomy Department, Kabba College of Agriculture in year 2015, and repeated in year 2016 to investigate the effect of seedbed preparation and sowing methods on seedling emergence, growth and yield of sesame in an Ultisol. The treatments consisted of six sowing methods (broadcasting, drilling at 25 cm interval, drilling at 50 cm interval, spot planting at 10 x 25 cm, spot planting at 20 cm x 20 cm, spot planting 20 cm x 25 cm) and four seed bed preparation methods (plough alone, plough plus harrow, plough plus double harrow, and plough plus harrow plus ridge) arranged in all possible factorial combinations and laid out in a randomized complete block design. Data were collected from ten randomly selected plants in each plot. Data were taken on the basis of agronomic traits such as on establishment count, plant height, number of leaves per plant, number of branches, stem girth, leave area, panicle length, panicle weight, number of seed per pod and number of seeds per plant. All the data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) to determine the significance of variations among the treatments and means were separated using Least Significance Difference (LSD) test at 5% level of probability. The result revealed that plots with plough + harrow twice were significantly better in percentage seedling emergence than plots with plough alone, plough + harrow and plough + harrow + ridge. Sesame either broadcast or drill had better growth characters when compared to sesame spot planted at different inter and intra row spacing. Plots with plough + double harrow and plots with plough + harrow + ridge were significantly better in growth characters than plots with either plough alone or plots with plough + harrow. Number of capsules per plant, individual capsule weight, weight of capsules per plant and number of seeds per capsule were highest in plots planted by drill method compared to spot and broadcast methods. Plots with plough + double harrow and plots plough + harrow + ridge were significantly better in capsules characters than plots with plough Alone or plough + harrow once. Broadcasting significantly produced lower seeds yield compared to drilling and spot planting. Plots with plough + double harrow and plots plough + harrow + ridge were significantly better in seed yields per plot and seed yield per land area than plots with either plough Alone or plough + harrow once. Lodging percentage was highest in plots with plough + harrow + ridge compared to plots with either plough Alone, plough + harrow once and plough + double harrow.  
Key words: Sesame, Seedbed, Sowing, Broadcasting, Drilling and Spot