Influence of plant growth regulators to increase the productivity of bottle gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl.]

The present investigation was carried out at Agricultural Research Farm, Suresh Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur (Rajasthan) during 2023-24. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design which comprises of ten treatment combinations viz; Control (T0), Ethrel @ 50 ppm (T1), Ethrel @ 100 ppm (T2),Ethrel @ 150 ppm (T3), MH @ 50 ppm (T4), MH @ 100 ppm (T5), MH @ 150 ppm (T6),CCC @ 50 ppm (T7), CCC @ 100 ppm (T8) and CCC @ 150 ppm (T9) treatments were replicated three times. Appraisal of the result indicated that the various parameters like vegetative growth, yield and quality attributes of bottle gourd were significantly influenced by different concentrations of Ethrel, MH and CCC under local agro-climatic conditions of Jaipur (Rajasthan). The maximum vine length (7.76 m), number of days to first staminate flower (46.43), number of days to first pistillate flower (54.63), number of pistillate flowers per vine (26.60), sex ratio (5.80), fruit set (7.03%), number of fruits per vine (6.76), fruit length (47.77 cm), fruit girth (26.30 cm), fruit weight (975.21 g), yield (6.59 kg/vine) and (46.59 t/ha), TSS (5.35B), Vitamin C (11.96 mg/100 g) and highest B:C ratio (3.23) were recorded under foliar application of Ethrel @ 100 ppm (T2) treatment. Whereas, the maximum branches per vine (13.86) were recorded under CCC @ 100 ppm treatment (T8) and maximum (49.40) nodes per vine and (93.94) leaves per vine were recorded under MH @ 100 ppm treatment (T5). Hence, the foliar application of Ethrel @ 100 ppm (T2) treatment at 2 – 4 true leaves was found the best treatment for bottle gourd production.