Effect of Plant Growth Regulators on Growth, Fruit Yield and Quality of Kharif Season Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia L.)

Abstract

The present was conducted at Department of Horticulture, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj during the session 2022 - 2024. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications, and the study consists of thirteen treatment combinations including control. The best treatment was T12 (NAA200ppm) &T11 (NAA150ppm) which shows highest values in all the parameters viz., day to germination (10.20), survival % (71.02%), vine length at last harvest (228.02), number of days to first male flower appearance (43.10), number days to first female flower appearance (53.67), number of days to 50%  flower first picking (61.85),  number fruit per vine (31.23), average fruit length (20.79cm), average fruit diameter (4.34), average fruit weight (88.05 g), average fruit yield per plant (49.83 kg), TSS (189 °brix), vitamin C (85.33). Increased flowering, fruit yield, quality and economics might be due to the increased absorption of nutrients when given as foliar application.