Effect of Plant Growth Regulators on Growth and Yield of Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.)

Abstract

This investigation was undertaken to study “the effect of plant growth regulators on growth and yield of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) during Kharif season of 2021 at the Crop Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj (U.P), India. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with 10 treatments and each replicated thrice. The treatments consisted of plant growth regulators GA3 at 10, 20 and 30 ppm, NAA at 10, 20 and 30 ppm and 2,4-D at 2,3, and 4ppm and a control plot. The results showed that among all the treatments, foliar application of GA3 (30 ppm) had positive impact on growth, yield and quality parameters i.e., plant height (81.68 cm), number of clusters per plant (36.66), days to 50% flowering (63.11 days), flowers per plant (72.22), fruits per plant (55.33), fruit yield per plant (3.90 kg), fruit yield per hectare (58.5 t), total soluble solids (4.20 Brix) and acidity (0.41%) were obtained. Foliar application of GA3 (30 ppm) was found to be productive as it recorded major growth and yield attributes as compared to other treatments.