Response of bottle gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl.] to pinching and NAA on flowering, sex expression and yield attributing traits

The experiment entitled “Response of bottle gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl.] to pinching and NAA on flowering, sex expression and yield attributing traits.” was conducted at Instructional farm Jambuvadi, Department of Vegetable Science, College of Horticulture, JAU., Junagadh, Gujarat. during the year 2024. Total twelve treatment combinations comprising three level of pinching at different nodes viz., pinching at 2nd node (P1), pinching at 4th node (P2), pinching at 6th node (P3) and four level of NAA concentration viz., 25 ppm (N1), 50 ppm (N2), 100 ppm (N3) and 150 ppm (N4) were allocated in randomized block design with factorial concept in three repetition. The result of experiment revealed that among the pinching at different nodes, pinching at 6th node (P3) recorded more number of female flowers per vine (30.94), less number of male flowers per vine (102.78), narrow male: female ratio (3.43), maximum fruit set percentage (56.58%), maximum number of fruits per vine (17.17), maximum fruit yield per vine (11.43 kg). Among the NAA treatments, NAA at 100 ppm (N3) recorded maximum number of female flowers per vine (29.48), narrow male: female ratio (3.77), maximum fruit set percentage (55%), maximum number of fruits per vine (16.67), maximum fruit yield per vine (10.41 kg). Whereas minimum number of male flowers were recorded in NAA 150 ppm (N4). Furthermore, the interaction effect between pinching and NAA found significant with parameters like; number of female flowers per vine (34.41) in treatment combination pinching at 6th node + NAA 100 ppm. It was also recorded narrow male: female ratio (2.69), maximum number of fruits per vine (18.66), maximum fruit yield per vine (13.50 kg).