Response of Levels of Nitrogen and Row Spacing on Growth and Leaf Yield of Palak (Beta vulgaris var. bengalensis) var. Arka Anupama

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Horticultural Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, B. A. College of Agriculture, Anand Agricultural University, Anand, with a view to study the response of levels of nitrogen and row spacing on growth and leaf yield of palak (Beta vulgaris var. bengalensis) var. Arka Anupama during Rabi season of the year 2019-20 with factorial randomized block design (FRBD) comprising of three levels of nitrogen viz., 60 kg Nha-1  (N1), 80 kg Nha-1 (N2) and 100 kg Nha-1 (N3) and three row spacing viz., 20 cm (S1), 30 cm (S2) and 40 cm (S3) along with three replications. The study was revealed that the application of Nitrogen 100 kgha-1 (N3) gave maximum shoot length (29.24 cm), maximum number of leaves (13.37), maximum leaf area (91.02 cm2), chlorophyll content SPAD value (37.10), ascorbic acid content (76.47 mg) at first cutting, maximum fresh leaf weight i.e. 57.88, 52.77, 48.23 and 38.33 g and maximum dry leaf weight i.e. 6.50, 6.24, 5.81 and 4.92 g  at 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th cutting, respectively and maximum leaf yield per plot (20.90 kg) and per hectare (37.32 t ) while in case of row spacing, S3 (40 cm) gave maximum number of leaves (13.44), maximum leaf area (89.69 cm2) at first cutting, maximum fresh leaf weight i.e. 56.63, 51.92, 46.30 and 36.67 g and maximum dry leaf weight i.e. 6.41, 6.20, 5.82 and 4.75 g  at 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th cutting respectively while, maximum number of plants/sq.m at 10 DAS (47.05), shoot length (28.98 cm), green leaf yield per plot (20.68 kg) and per hectare (36.93 t) observed in treatment S1 (20 cm).