Studies on the Soil Application of Micronutrients and Its Influence on Growth, Yield and Quality of Chow Chow [Sechium edule (Jacq) Swartz]

Abstract

Chow chow is one of the major vegetable crops being cultivated under hill region of Tamil Nadu. It gives regular income upto eight months under rainfed conditions. Prevalence of micronutrient deficiency in chowchow reduce the yield and quality during past one decade and forcing many farmers switch to other crops. In order to increase the yield of chowchow, an investigation was carried out from November 2020 to June, 2021 to study the effect of soil application of micronutrients and its positive influence on plant growth and yield at Horticultural Research Station, Thandiyankudisai, Perumbarai, Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu. The micronutrients were applied two months after the planting. The results of the experiment reveals that, the micronutrients application of ZnSO4 20kg + FeSO4 20kg + MgSO4 25kg + Borax 10kg +CuSO4 2.5kg +Mo 1kg  recorded the highest values for number of fruits (19.59/ vine), fruit length (11.43cm), fruit diameter (12.38cm), fruit weight (362.67g), yield per vine (7.11kg) and yield per hectare (32.90 t).