Effect of foliar application of plant growth regulators on growth and yield of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench)

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted on field of Department of Agricultural Botany, College of Agriculture Parbhani, during kharif season of 2019, to study the effect of foliar application of plant growth regulators on growth and yield of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench). The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with ten treatments and three replications. The treatments consisted of three growth regulators viz., gibberellic acid (25, 50, 50 ppm), naphthalene acetic acid (25, 50, 75 ppm) and indole-3-butyric acid (25, 50, 75 ppm). Results revealed that the application of plant growth regulators significantly increased morpho-physiological traits viz., plant height, number of branches per plant, number of leaves per plant, number of flowers per plant, days to 50% flowering as compared to control. Application of growth regulators increased all the yield attributing parameters viz., fresh fruit weight, number of fruits per plant and fruit yield which increased significantly due to plant growth regulators. The fruit yield improved with the foliar application of gibberellic acid (GA3) followed by naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) compared to control.