Department of Crop Physiology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India.
A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the Role of growth regulators on flowering and fruit set in two Jatropha genotypes (local genotype Varattupallam and the exotic genotype Zimbabwe). Early flowering as well as about 42 per cent increased production of inflorescences in Zimbabwe genotype over Varattupallam genotype favoured the former to a larger extent in terms of productivity. In addition to the above Increased number of female flowers and better fertility co-efficient also helped Zimbabwe genotype in furthering productivity. Though Mepiquat chloride and ethrel sprays hastened flowering earlier than others, the important flowering characters, namely, number of inflorescences, number of female flowers, number of male flowers to one female and fertility coefficient were effectively enhanced by gibberellic acid and brassinolide treatments.
Growth Regulators, Fruitset, Jatropha
