2024, Vol. 7, Issue 12, Part I

author(s)
Phawade SS, Khargakharate VK, Halge SS and Shirale SP

abstract
During the Kharif season 2023-24, a field experiment was conducted at Balsa block Central farm, V.N.M.K.V., Parbhani, Maharashtra, India to evaluate the impact of sowing dates and plant growth regulators on growth, yield and quality of Bt. cotton hybrid. The study was carried out on well drain medium black cotton soil. The field experiment was conducted in split plot design with fifteen treatment combinations. i.e, three dates of sowing viz., D₁ - 24^th MW, D₂ - 26^th MW and D₃ - 28^th MW and five plant growth regulators viz.,G₁ -Control; G₂ - De topping at 60-65 DAS; G₃ - Gibberellic acid @ 100 ppm at 45 & 60 DAS + De-topping at 60-65 DAS; G₄ - Ethrel @ 8.5 µM at 45 DAS + De- topping at 60-65 DAS and G₅ - Homobrassinolide @ 0.2 ppm at 45 & 60 DAS + De-topping at 60-65 DAS. Studies revealed that the 24^th MW (D₁) i.e. first sowing date with application of Gibberellic acid @ 100 ppm at 45 & 60 DAS + De-topping at 60-65 DAS (G₃) were in both growth character viz., plant height, number of functional leaves, leaf area plant^-1, dry matter accumulation and yield character viz., number of bolls plant^-1, boll weight, seed cotton yield plant^-1 (g), seed cotton yield (kg ha^-1) and stalk yield (kg ha^-1) found significantly superior over all treatments.