Effects of mulching on fruit quality and economics of round gourd under variable sowing dates
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Authors
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NAVEEN GARG
Punjab Agricultural University, Regional Research Station, Bathinda
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Manpreet Singh
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Monika Mahajan
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Kulbir Singh
Keywords:
Economics, Quality, Mulch, Round gourd, Sowing time, TindaAbstract
An experiment was conducted in a split-plot design on round gourd for two consecutive years (2021 and 2022) during March to October in South-Western Punjab, India. The main-plot consisted of six sowing dates representing first week of six consecutive months, i.e., March (DS1), April (DS2), May (DS3), June (DS4), July (DS3), and August (DS3). The sub-plot comprised three mulching treatments [silver-black plastic mulch (SBPM) (25 µm thick), black plastic mulch (BPM) (25 µm thick), and paddy straw mulch (PSM) (60 q/ha)] and control i.e. bare soil (BS). The pooled data revealed that irrespective of sowing date, the SBPM, BPM and PSM enhanced the fruit ascorbic acid by 26.4%, 19.6% and 9.5%, fibre by 22.1%, 20.0% and 12.3%, ash content by 31.6%, 28.1% and 19.3%, and dry matter by 2.6%, 1.0% and 5.7%, respectively, over BS. Irrespective of mulching, the highest ascorbic acid, dry matter, fibre and ash content was manifested in DS2. The minimum dry matter, fibre and ash content were observed in DS3. The interaction effects revealed that the maximum ascorbic acid, dry matter and ash content were manifested in ‘DS2 + SBPM’, whereas the highest fibre content was recorded by ‘DS5 + SBPM’. The maximum gross returns, net returns and benefit cost ratio were observed with SBPM followed by BPM, PSM and BS under all sowing dates except DS5 in which PSM proved better than BPM. It is economically beneficial to use SBPM or BPM in DS1, SBPM, BPM or PSM in DS2 and DS3 whereas only SBPM may be used in DS4 for cultivation of round gourd in South-Western Punjab.
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