Yield Performance of Mustard Using Different Concentrations of Gibberellic Acid (GA3)

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the Crop Botany Field Laboratory, Department of Crop Botany, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during November 2007 to March 2008 to evaluate the effects of Gibberellic acid (GA3) on yield performance and siliqua shattering of mustard (var. BINA shorisha-6). Four concentrations of GA3 viz. 0, 25, 50 and 75 ppm were sprayed on canopy at 30 days after sowing. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The results showed that different levels of GA3 significantly influenced the number of siliqua/plant, number of seeds/siliqua, percentage of shattered siliqua/plant, number of flowers/plant, setting of siliqua/plant (%), seed weight/plant and harvest index. The GA3 at 50 ppm significantly increased the number of fertile siliqua/plant, number of flowers/plant, setting of siliqua/plant (%), number of seeds/siliqua, seed weight/plant and harvest index. The highest seed yield/plant was recorded from 50 ppm GA3 application at optimum harvest date. The variety incurred 47.29% yield loss due to shattering of siliqua when harvested 10 days after optimum date without application of hormone but loss was reduced to 15.34% with the application of 50 ppm of GA3.