Vol. 11, Special Issue 9 (2022)

Author(s):
Rehan, Akhilesh Tiwari and Reena Nair

Abstract:
The trial was conducted during the summer season of 2021 and 2022 at Vegetable Research Centre, Department of Horticulture, JNKVV (M.P.) to determine the influence of bioregulators and pinching on quality of bottle gourd var Pusa Naveen. A field experiment was laid out with 21 treatment combinations encompassing three levels of pinching and seven levels of plant growth regulators (NAA, Salicylic acid and Biofertisol) laid out in a Randomized Block Design (Factorial) with three replicates. The interaction effect of pinching operation and bioregulators had a marked influence on quality of bottle gourd. The treatment combination comprising of pinching operation done on 3^rd node with exogenous application of Salicylic acid @ 0.5 mM (P1G3) recorded higher moisture of 91.10% in the course of first year. No pinching with foliar application of NAA @ 200 ppm (P0G2) recorded higher moisture content of 91.20% during second year whereas, the pooled average exhibited 90.80%. No pinching along with the foliar spray of Biofertisol @ 5 ml recorded higher ascorbic acid content of 10.20 mg/ 100 g during the first year however, pinching operation carried on 6^th node with spray of NAA @ 100 ppm noted maximum magnitude of 10.09 mg/ 100 g for this trait during second year. The pooled average revealed a maximum value of 9.80 mg/ 100 gm of ascorbic acid content. In regards to the TSS content, treatment combination of no pinching with spray of Biofertisol @ 5 ml recorded higher value of 4.20˚Brix during the first year. Treatment combination of no pinching with spray of Biofertisol @ 5 ml and pinching carried out on 3^rd node with SA @ 0.7 mM recorded higher value of 4.20˚Brix during the second year. The pooled data revealed higher value of 4.15˚Brix. Maximum magnitude of 0.41%, 0.37% and 0.39% for crude protein content was exhibited in the treatment combination comprising of no pinching with foliar spray of NAA @ 200 ppm. Thus it can be concluded that among the bioregulators, foliar application of NAA @ 200 ppm recorded better moisture content, crude protein and TSS content in Bottle Gourd.