Effect of Nitrogen Levels on Growth, Yield and Quality of Bottle Gourd [Lagenaria siceraria L. (Mol.) Standl.] in Balaghat Region, (M.P.), India

The present investigation was carried out at Horticultural Research farm, School of Agriculture Science, Technology and Research, Sardar Patel University, Balaghat (M.P.) during late winter season of year 2023. The experiment was conducted in Randomized Block Design (RBD), with eight treatments which was replicated three times. On the basis of results obtained in present investigation, it was concluded that the effect of different level of nitrogen on yield and quality of bottle gourd was significant. Among the different treatments, the maximum vine length, number of branches per plant, number of fruits per vine, fruit length, fruit girth, fruit weight, fruit yield per vine, fruit yield / hectare was seen in T6 (N @ 140 kg/ha + PK @ 50 kg/ha). Maximum net returns were recorded in treatment T6 (N @ 140 kg/ha + PK @ 50 kg/ha each) with Rs 163025 ha-1 and highest benefit cost ratio was recorded in treatment T6 (2.80). The addition of a microbial consortium and NPK fertilizer can affect the plant height. The addition of nitrogen at recommendations were able to show the best results both in terms of growth and yield of bottle gourd compared to other test treatments.