Growth and Yield of Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia L.) as Influenced by Organic Formulations and Growth Regulators

Abstract

A field trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of plant growth regulators and organic formulations on growth and yield of bitter gourd. Fifteen treatments with one untreated control (T0) were evaluated under randomized block design on one variety (Jaunpur Long Green). The trial was conducted at Vegetable research farm of Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur during 2022-23 and 2023-24. The treatment combinations were given by either straight or in combination of cycocel, ethrel, boric acid, panchagavya, jeevamrit and anda-arkh. Treatments were given as foliar application at 3-4 leaf stage of the crop. The results obtained indicated that various treatments gave significantly better results as compared to control for all the characters studied. In the results it was found that days to first male flower, days to first female flower, number of female flowers plant-1,number of fruits plant-1, fruit weight (g) and fruit yield (kg plant-1) were maximum whereas the relative growth rate was minimum with the treatment Panchgavya @ 5% + Cycocel @ 200 ppm (T11) which was closely followed by Panchgavya @ 5% + Ethrel @ 200 ppm (T10). Apart from this, the lowest performance for all the parameters except for relative growth rate was exerted by the untreated control (T0). The results demonstrate that integrated management strategies using organic bio-stimulants in combination with growth regulators can significantly improve the growth and productivity of bitter gourd.