Vol. 11, Issue 3 (2022)

Author(s):
Vaishnavi Gawande, Dr. TH Rathod, Dr. SB Deshmukh and SB Bakal

Abstract:
Cotton plays an important role in the agrarian as well as an industrial economy. Concerning the importance of cotton from an economical point of view, it becomes very essential to cultivate cotton with higher yield expectations. Though chemical fertilizers enhanced crop production, their overuses cause pollution. Newly formed alternatives to avoid the use of chemical compounds are biopolymers such as Chitosan. The investigation was conducted during Kharif season, 2020-2021 at Central Demonstration Farm, Wani Rambhapur, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola. The experiment was laid out in RBD with four replications and seven treatments comprising of different concentrations of chitosan viz., control, 25 ppm, 50 ppm, 75 ppm, 100 ppm, 125 ppm, and 150 ppm. Foliar sprays of chitosan were carried out on 35 and 55 DAS. Significantly maximum values of morphological parameters like plant height, leaf area, leaf area index; physiological parameters like dry matter production, relative water content and growth parameters like crop growth rate, relative growth rate, net assimilation rate were recorded in treatment T₄ (75 ppm chitosan) over control.