EFFECT OF INSECT ATTRACTANTS, MICRONUTRIENTS AND GROWTH REGULATORS ON CROP GROWTH, FLOWERING BEHAVIOUR AND SEED YIELD IN ALFALFA (MEDICAGO SATIVA L.)
K. SREEDHARA, A. KRISHNA1 AND S. HARISH2*
Department of Seed Science and Technology,
College of Agriculture,
UAS, Dharwad, Karnataka
*(e-mail : kumarsky999@gmail.com)
(Received: 1 July, 2013, Accepted: 23 July, 2013)
SUMMARY
A field experiment was carried out at Main Agricultural Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad during the Rabi-Summer 2010-11. The experiment consisted of 8 treatment combinations involving two insect attractants A1- Jaggery solution @ 2% and A2- Commercial attractant (Bee-Q @ 0.175%), two micronutrients M1- Boron @ 0.8% and M2- Molybdenum @ 0.05%, and two growth regulators G1- Gibberlic Acid (GA3) @ 50 ppm and G2- Naphthalene Acetic Acid (NAA) @ 50 ppm. Among the insect attractants sprayed, Bee-Q recorded significantly higher number of flowers (271), number of pods per plant (62.75), pod set percentage (22.72), pod yield per plant (14.75) and seed weight per plant (2.83). Higher seed yield per ha (268) was noticed with Bee-Q with the extent of 18% of increase over Jaggery solution. Among the micronutrients sprayed, M1 recorded significantly higher number of flowers (263), number of pods per plant (60.43), pod set percentage (21.96), pod yield per plant (14.28), seed weight per plant (2.31) and seed yield per ha (251). Among the growth regulators sprayed, G1 recorded significantly higher number of flowers (269), number of pods per plant (63.45), pod set percentage (22.85), pod yield per plant (14.02), seed weight per plant (2.46) and seed yield per ha (267). The interaction effects between insect attractants, micronutrients and growth regulators were found significant. The treatment combination of A1M2G1 found significantly superior for pod set % and seed yield per ha over all other treatment combinations.
Key words: Lucerne, boron, molybdenum, gibberlic acid and naphthalene