Influence of Different Levels of Nano Urea on Growth, Quality and Yield on Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) under Prayagraj Meteorological Conditions

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out in the Department of Horticulture, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology And Sciences, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh during the Zaid season of 2023 with the view to evaluate performance of pumpkin with application of different combinations of urea and nano urea. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with 11 treatment combinations replicated thrice. Treatments comprised of T0 (100% RDF @ 100:50:50 Kg/ha NPK); T1 (90% nitrogen through traditional method +10% nitrogen through nano urea); T2 (80% nitrogen through traditional method + 20% nitrogen through nano urea); T3 (70% nitrogen through traditional method + 30% nitrogen through nano urea); T4 (60% nitrogen through traditional method + 40% nitrogen through nano urea); T5 (50% nitrogen through traditional method + 50% nitrogen through nano urea); T6 (40% nitrogen through traditional method + 60% nitrogen through nano urea); T7 (30% nitrogen through traditional method+ 70% nitrogen through nano urea); T8 (20% nitrogen through traditional method + 80% nitrogen through nano urea); T9 (10% nitrogen through traditional method + 90% nitrogen through nano urea) and T10 100% Nano urea . Among the different levels of urea and nano urea applied in pumpkin T3 (70% nitrogen through traditional method + 30% nitrogen through nano urea) showed significantly better performance for growth parameters like longest vines and earliness in 50% flowering and maturity for yield parameters like fruit diameter, maximum number of fruits per plant yield per hectare as well as maximum net returns and highest BC ratio.