Effect of Sowing Date and Combined Phosphorous Potassium Fertilizer rates on Growth, Yield and Yield Attributes of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus. L monech)

Objective: The field experiment was conducted with the aim of evaluating the response of sowing dates and a combined Phosphorous and potassium fertilizers (PK fertilizer) on growth and yield of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus .L). Methods: The experiment involving two factors and the field was laid out fitting a randomized block design (RBD) with each treatment being replicated three times. The first factor (sowing date) was composed of three different sowing dates which were set at 20 day interval and the three sowing dates were late-July (27 July), Mid-August (August 16) and early-September (September 5). The second factor PK fertilizer constituted five different rates (0 kg/ha, 125 kg/ha, 150 kg/ha, 175 kg/ha and 200 kg/ha). Key Findings: Results of the study showed that sowing date was found to have a significant effect on phonological, growth and yield parameters. Seeds sown during late-July produced the highest total yield (12.09 t/ha) whereas the early-September sowing date produced the highest percentage of marketable yield (99.03%). In addition to this, the PK fertilizer application also resulted in to a significant improvement of all the growth parameters and some of the yield based parameters like total yield and number of pods. The highest significant values of number of fruits (35.95) and total yield (12.6 t/ha) were obtained from 200 Kg/ha of PK fertilizers. Conclusion: In this study, the suitable sowing date and also the best dose of the PK fertilizers were discovered. Hence it can be concluded that it is better to sow okra seeds during the late-July and the PK fertilizers should be applied at a rate of 200 kg/ha in the ratio of 3:2 for maximizing the yielding potential of the crop.