Progressive Agriculture

Okra has been called “a perfect villager's vegetable” because of its robust nature, dietary fiber, and distinct seed protein balance of both lysine and tryptophan amino acids. A two years study was conducted to determine the impact of plant growth regulators and nutrients on the chlorophyll and biochemical contents in okra cv. Parbhani Kranti at Horticulture Research Center of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut. The experimental field was laid out in randomized block design (RBD) with three replications. 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. Foliar application of growth regulators in general proved to be superior over nutrients. GA₃ @ 75 ppm was considered to be the best treatment which resulted in better increment in chlorophyll ‘a’ (1.009 mg/g), ‘b’ (0.406 mg/g) and total chlorophyll (1.416 mg/g) in green leaves and nitrate reductase activity ((79.38μ moles NO₂/g/hr.) in green pods. While, maximum increase in ascorbic acid (17.41mg/100g) and protein (2.174%) in green pods was recorded with the foliar application of NAA 75 ppm. Among the nutrients, foliar application of MgSO₄ @ 4000 ppm had positively effects on chlorophyll ‘a’ (0.895 mg/g), ‘b’ (0.360 mg/g) and total chlorophyll (1.251mg/g) in green leaves and protein (2.071%) in green pods. However, MnSO₄ treated plants exhibits maximum ascorbic acid (15.63mg/100g) and nitrate reductase activity ((69.30μ moles NO₂/g/hr.) in green pod as compare to other nutrient treatments.