INFLUENCE OF ORGANIC LEACHATES ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF BITTER GOURD

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at Horticulture Farm, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, during the period from Feb - July 2017, to study the influence of organic leachates on growth and yield of bitter gourd. Three treatments viz. BARI fertilizer dose (basal) used as control (T ) BARI fertilizer dose (basal) + cowdung leachate as top dressing (T ), BARI fertilizer dose (basal) + vermicompost leachate as topdressing (T 3 2 ) were studied in this experiment. These treatments were arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Significant variation was observed at different growth and yield parameters of bitter gourd with different treatments. Maximum plant height (2.85m), leaf number per plant (17.33), number of branch per plant (12.88), number of flower per plant (37.11), fruit number per plant (19.00), fruit weight (94.72 g), yield/plant (1.68 kg) and total yield (9.89 t/ha) were found from T whereas minimum plant height (2.75m), leaf number per plant (11.88), number of branch per plant (9.55), number of flower per plant (30.22), fruit number per plant (14.33), fruit weight (76.37g ), yield/plant (1.056 kg) and total yield ( 6.38 t/ha) from T 3 treatment (control). This study suggests that T 3 1 treatment acts as a potential source of plant nutrients for suitable bitter gourd production. 1