Effects of nutrients and plant growth regulators on yield and quality characters of cotton

Abstract

India is one of the leading cotton producer and consumer in the world. Cotton is an important cash crop and it supplies a major share of raw materials to the textile industry and playing a key role in the economic and social affairs of the world. The objective of this field experiment was to study the effects of nutrients combination with growth regulators on yield and quality characters of cotton. The treatments consisted of plant growth regulators G0 -Control (Water spray), G1 – NAA @ 40 ppm (45th and 60th DAS) and G2 – Mepiquat chloride @ 100 ppm (70th and 90th DAS) were assigned with sulphur, zinc and boron (N0 – Control, N1 – 30 kg S ha-1 as gypsum + 5 kg Zn ha-1 as zinc sulphate + 0.5 kg B ha-1 as borax, N2 – 45 kg S ha-1 as gypsum + 5 kg Zn ha-1 as zinc sulphate + 0.5 kg B ha-1 as borax and N3 – 60 kg S ha-1 as gypsum + 5 kg Zn ha-1 as zinc sulphate + 0.5 kg B ha-1 as borax). The application of 1-napthalene acetic acid (NAA) @ 40 ppm recorded higher seed cotton yield and application of 60 kg sulphur (S) + 5 kg zinc (Zn) + 0.5 kg boron (B) ha-1 had a remarkable influence on the yield and quality characters of cotton.