EFFECT OF LEAF PRUNING AND VERMICOMPOST ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF SQUASH (Cucurbita pepo)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in the Horticulture Farm of Sher-e Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period from November 2015 to February 2016. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The experiment consisted of two factors viz., three different pruning practices; Control (No pruning, P 0 ), P (First and second leaf pruning at 20 DAT), P 2 1 (Third and fourth leaf pruning at 30 DAT) andon the other hand, four different doses of vermicompost viz. Control (No vermicompost, V (10 t/ha) and V 3 0 ), V (15 t/ha) were applied in the experiment. Results revealed that pruning, vermicompost and their interaction had significant effect on maximum growth parameters and yield contributing characters. Maximum stem length (64.74 cm at harvest), maximum leaf per plant (20.33), the highest (318.67 gm) individual fruit weight, the highest (21.35 cm) fruit length, the highest yield (21.07 t/ha) was found in P treatment.The maximum stem length (68.26 cm), the maximum leaf per plant (21.56), the maximum female flower (8.11), the maximum total number of fruit (5.11), the maximum individual fruit weight (383.67 gm), the maximum length of fruit (21.61 cm), the maximum diameter of fruit (5.19 cm) and the maximum yield (39.20 t/ha) were found in V 1 treatment. First pruning at 20 DAT and 10 t/ha vermicompost combination gave the highest yield (48.33 t/ha) and the lowest yield was recorded from P 0 V 0 2 treatment combination. So, P 1 V is suitable combination for the better growth and yield of squash.