ABSTRACT

Aim of this investigation was to determine the effect of fertilizer and irrigation on the yield and yield contributing characters of pointed gourd var. “BARI Patal-1”. Different treatments showed significant performances, where the observations revealed that the combination of highest levels of fertilizers (application of Urea and MP both @ 35 g/pit) and irrigation (4 times) confirmed the minimum days to first flower initiation and first harvest. The above combination also ensured the best performances of pointed gourd in respect of nodes per plant, vine length, fruit length and breadth, individual fruit weight, number of fruits per plant, number of seeds per fruit, weight of fruits as well as fruit yield. Always control treatment showed the worst performance. Finally the findings concluded that the yield of pointed gourd increases in an increased rate of fertilizer and irrigation upto a certain level.

Key words: Fertilizer, irrigation, yield, pointed gourd.

Introduction
Pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.) is commonly known as patol and is widely cultivated as summer vegetables in Bangladesh, Assam, West Bangal, Bihar, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh of India. In Bangladesh it is vastly cultivated in the districts of Rajshahi, Pabna, Bogra, Kustia and Jessore, (Rashid, 1993). The pointed gourd is produced in about 24,364 acres of land of Bangladesh with a total production of 85374 M tons having the average yield of 1.4 t/ha (BBS, 2018-19). It is a very important and nutritious due to containing of 5.4 g protein, 0.5 g mineral, 153 mg carotene and 29 mg vitamin-C per 100 g fresh weight (Gopalan et al., 1982). It is easily digestible, diuretic, and laxative, invigorates the heart and brain and is useful in the disorder of the circulatory system (Malek, 2009). Pointed gourd is a perennial and dioecious vegetable that grows as vine with a pencil thickness stem (Hazra et al., 2011). Traditionally it is multiplied through stem cuttings and root suckers (Pandey and Ram, 2000) but possesses the lower yield due to lack of knowledge about the package of practices particularly planting density and proper nutrient management. Fertilizer is one of the most important inputs contributing to crop production because it increases productivity and improves yield and quality (Sanap et al., 2010). Fertilizer also helps to attain aesthetic value of crops (Siva et al., 2018). Nitrogen fertilization favors the development of the aerial parts over roots and consequently the promotion of flowering and fruiting of many crops. Pointed gourd has huge vegetative growth which needs high amount of nitrogen (Hazra et al., 2011). Potassium is an important element in plant metabolism, promoting carbohydrate translocation from tops to roots. It plays a major role in the production of fruits. Hence, it is necessary for enhancing the fruit yield and yield attributes. So far,
no work has been done on effect of N, P, K levels on the yield and quality parameters of pointed gourd in the High Ganges River Floodplain of Bangladesh. On the other hand, water is a very important element for crop production. Irrigation fulfills the water requirement of plants. Irrigation induce flowering in plants. It had been claimed that water stress kept flower buds dormant (Mes, 1957). If the surface soil dried, a decrease in plant yield may be caused by mineral deficiency while the roots were extracting enough water
from the lower soil layers to maintain turgor (Hagan et al. 1957). He also added that repeated irrigation was necessary in the dry season for higher yield. Dutta (1979) stated that absorption of water helped the intake