Effect of NPK Fertilizer and Plant Density on the Growth and Yield of Eggplant Crop (Solanum melongena) in Sandy Soil

Abstract

The   eggplant   plant (Solanum   melongena L.)   is the annual vegetable grown in the warm regions and consider one of the important vegetable crops in the world, due to the highly nutritive values, and medicinally benefits. One of the strategies to enhance production is through the improvement of cultivation techniques. The Research was conducted at the Nursery of Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, University of Kordofan. Elobeid, Sudan. The aim of this research is to determine the effect of NPK fertilizer and plant density and to find the best dose and density on the growth and yield of eggplant.  Six treatments in two seasons were used: 1 plant 0g of NPK, 2 plants 0g of NPK, 1 plant 5g of NPK, 2 plant 5 g of NPK, 1 plants 10 g of NPK, 2 plants 10g of NPK. The treatments were arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replicates. Parameters studied included number of leaves/plant, leaf length (cm), Leaf width (cm), stem length (cm) Number of branches/plant, Number of flowers/plant, fruit length (cm), fruit width (cm), and fruits yield (ton/feddan). In the first and second season the statistical analysis of the data showed significant differences between the treatments on the number of leaves per plant, leaf length, leaf width, stem length, number of branches per plant, number of flowers per plant, fruit length, fruit width, and fruits yield. The treatment 2pt 10g NPK had highest values of number of leaves/ plant (84 and 79), fruits length(20.8 and 22.18cm), fruit width (9.5 and 7.79 cm), fruits yield (9 and 34 ton/ha) while the lowest values (10 and 21), (10.2 and 15.67 cm) , (4.5 and 4.02 cm), (4 and 17 ton/ha) where obtained in the treatment 1 pt 0g NPK in 2023 and 2025 respectively,   the results showed that the application dose of 10g of NPK and density 2plant/hole gives good and effective results compared to a dose of  5g NPK either with one or two plant.