Effect of Different Organic Manures and their Combina- tions on Growth, Yield and Quality of Bitter Gourd cv Pusa Do Mausami under Sub Tropical Condition of Garhwal Hills

Abstract

Present research work on the effect of different organic manures and their combinations on growth, yield, and quality of bitter gourd cv Pusa Do Mausami were carried out at the Horticultural Research Center, Department of Horticulture, HNB Garhwal University, Uttarakhand during the summer season of 2017. The experiment was comprised of 11 treatments consisting of different organic manures and their combinations which were laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications. The result of the analysis of variance revealed that the mean sum of squares due to treatment was significant at a 5% level for almost all the traits. The result showed that T9 (vermicompost + poultry manure) responded best for days taken to the appearance of the first male flower (55.53) and female flower (61.53), number of fruits/vine (28.06), weight of fruit (71.67g), days taken to first fruit harvest (80.53 days) and harvesting duration (60.40 days). The treatment T4 (neem cake) showed best for diameter of fruit (44.4 mm), fruit yield/vine (1793.06 g), yield/plot (16.13 kg/plot) and yield/hectare (179.25 q/ha), respectively. On the other hand, the highest TSS (5.28 oBrix) and ascorbic acid (89.99 mg/100 g) content was estimated in T3 (goat manure). Thus, it can be concluded that the treatment T4 (neem cake) and T3 (goat manure) showed superior results with respect to yield and quality traits of bitter gourd respectively. Hence, these treatments could be used to enhance the production of bitter gourd under subtropical condition of Garhwal hills.