Response of foliar feeding of micronutrients on quality traits and economics of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) under Central Zone of (U.P.)

The field experiment was conducted at Vegetable Research Farm, Kalyanpur of Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh during kharif season of 2019 the response of micronutrients on different quality traits and economics of bitter gourd. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications. Fourteen different treatments of micronutrients combination were tested against the control. Results of the experiment revealed that application of foliar feeding of mixture of all micronutrients (boric acid @ 100 ppm + zinc sulphate @ 100 ppm + ammonium molybdate @ 50 ppm + copper sulphate @ 100 ppm + ferrous sulphate @ 100 ppm + manganese sulphate @ 100 ppm) (T7) produced significantly highest T.S.S content (5.45 ⁰Brix), Vitamin-C content (64.62mg/100g), Cost of cultivation (53,881.0Rs/ha.), Gross return (1,84,408.0Rs/ha.) Net return (1,30,527.0Rs/ha) and B:C ratio (3.42). Significantly highest zinc content (85 ppm), Iron content (426 ppm) and copper content (22 ppm) were found in fruits with the application of zinc sulphate @ 100 ppm (T2), ferrous sulphate @ 100 ppm (T5) and copper sulphate @ 100 ppm (T4) respectively. The lowest values of quality traits and economics were recorded in control.