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).