Growth, yield and quality of vegetable cowpea influenced by foliar application of antioxidants, plant nutrients and Naa

Abstract

The current experiment was conducted to evaluate the influence of foliar application of antioxidants, plant nutrients and NAA on the growth, yield and quality of summer grown vegetable cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] at College of Horticulture, S. D. Agricultural University, Jagudan, Dist. Mehsana, Gujarat, India. The experiment conducted using Randomized Block Design comprising three replications and twelve treatments. The results of this study revealed that, foliar application of Thiourea @200 ppm exhibited highest plant height (53.45cm, 66.40 cm and 73.47 cm) at 45, 75 days after sowing & final harvest, respectively. Application of NAA at 200 ppm showed better response in morphological traits, particularly in the number of branches per plant (5.47, 8.40, and 8.53) at 45 and 75 days after sowing and at the final harvest, respectively. Foliar application of 200 ppm NAA was found significantly superior in yield and quality parameters viz., pods number per cluster (3.47), clusters per plant (29.27), yield per individual plant (166.75 g), yield per plot (4.01 kg), yield per hectare (123.76 q), seed number per pod (12.60), chlorophyll a (0.69 mg/g), chlorophyll b (0.58mg/g) and total chlorophyll (1.24 mg/g) of pod. While, significantly maximum number of pickings (7.00) was observed with application of 200 ppm ascorbic acid, potassium nitrate @0.6%, NAA @100 ppm and 200 ppm.