Impact of foliar application of bioregulators and Nutri-Ents on the vegetative parameters of okra (AbelmoschusEsculentus (L.) Moench) CV. Parbhani Kranti

Plant growth regulators (PGRs) and micronutrients affect various aspects of plant physiology, mainly vegetative and reproductive attributes including yield and seed production. A field experiment was carried out during 2011 and 2012 at Horticulture Research Center of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut to find out the response of foliar application of plant growth regulators and nutrients on vegetative attributes of okra cv. Parbhani Kranti. Two plant growth regulators and four nutrients ware used in different concentration i.e. NAA (25, 50 and 75ppm), GA₃ (25, 50 and 75ppm), MnSO₄ (2000 and 4000 ppm), FeSO₄ (2000 and 4000 ppm), MgSO₄ (2500 and 5000 ppm), CuSO₄ (1000 and 2000 ppm) and Control (distilled water spray). All variables parameters regarding vegetative growth were significantly influenced by different concentrations of the growth regulators and nutrients. Results revealed that between both the growth regulators, the foliar application of GA₃ (75 ppm) registered significantly higher vegetative growth viz., plant height (140.64cm), leaf width (21.56 cm) & length (27.35 cm), fresh weight (365.34g) and dry weight (62.15g) of plant, number of nodes per plant (27.44) and green pod yield (15.23 t/ha) over NAA. Similarly, minimum days taken to first flowering (39.77) and first harvesting (47.55) were carried out with foliar application of GA3 (75 ppm). In case of nutrients, FeSO₄ @ 4000 ppm foliar application had promoting effect on all vegetative parameters, except earlier flowering and harvesting in which MgSO₄ show positive effect as compare to other nutrient treatments.