Effect of Plant Growth Regulators and Micro-Nutrients on Yield and Yield Attributes of High Density Planted Bt Cotton (Gossypium Hirsutum L.)

There are several major problems like, abscission of leaves and reproductive parts associated with the growth and development limiting the yield. An objective for using plant growth regulators in cotton is to balance vegetative and reproductive growth as well as to improve yield and its quality. In recent years, plant growth regulators considered as new generation agrochemicals after fertilizers and pesticides. The experiment was carried out during kharif seasons of 2018-19 and 2019-20 at Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani. The experiment was laid out in split-plot design with three replications consisting of twelve treatment combinations comprising three plant growth regulator treatments in main plot and four micro-nutrient treatments in sub plot. It indicated that among application of plant growth regulators, Brassinosteroids @ 0.01% significantly increased yield and yield attributes like, no. of picked bolls/plant, seed cotton yield/plant (g), seed cotton yield (kg/ha) and stalk yield (kg/ha-1) as compared with other plant growth regulators during year 2018-19 and 2019-20. Among application of micro-nutrient treatments, yield and yield attributes like, no. of picked bolls/plant, seed cotton yield/plant (g), seed cotton yield (kg/ha) and stalk yield (kg/ha) was significantly higher with Foliar spray at the square formation and at the flowering of 0.5% ZnSO4 + 0.5% MgSO4 + 0.5% FeSO4 + 0.2% B which was at par with foliar spray of Grade II micro-nutrient at the square formation and at flowering during both the years of studies.