Response of plant growth regulators and trace elements on growth, flowering and yield of bottle gourd cv. GH 22

Abstract

In the present experiment three levels each of plant growth regulators (NAA, GA3, Ethrel) and trace elements (ZnSO4, MnSO4, Boric acid), respectively, were sprayed at second and fourth leaves stage along with control treatment on bottle gourd plants to find out their effect on fruit yield. The study was conducted at Research Farm of the Department of Vegetable Science, CCS, Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during Spring summer season of 2017-18. The results of the study clearly indicated that application of Ethrel 200 ppm significantly increased the fruit yield and its related attributes over control treatment. The spraying of Ethrel 200 ppm significantly reduced the length of internodes (11.7 cm), node number to bear first female (7.3), number of staminate flowers per plant (104.3), length of internodes (11.7) as well as main vine length (357.2 cm) whereas it increases number of primary branches /vine (17.7), the numbers of pistillate flower per plant (17.0), longest fruit length & diameter (32.9; 7.5 cm), length of pedicel (15.9 cm), number of fruits per vine (7.7) and fruit yield per plot and per hectare (30.1 kg and 361.1 q), respectively. Whereas, the spray of GA3 75 ppm delayed the node number to bear first female flower (15.3) and increased the number of staminate flowers per plant (145.7) and length of internodes & main vine length (16.7 and 487 cm) as well as it decreased the number of pistillate flowers per vine (9.3) and fruit yield per plot and per hectare (19.8 kg, 237.6 q). The highest node number to bear first male flower (13.3) and maximum number of days to opening of first male flower (54.7) were recorded in treatment NAA 300 ppm. From the study, it was concluded that bottle gourd plants of cv. GH-22 when sprayed with Ethrel 200 ppm produced the maximum fruit yield (361.1q/ ha).