Effect of planting time and fertilizer dose on growth, yield and quality of bitter gourd grown under polyhouse and net house conditions

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of planting time and fertilizer dose on growth, yield and quality of bitter gourd var. Pusa Rasdar under two different protected structures (polyhouse and nethouse). The experiment was laid out in the factorial randomized block design with three replications. The treatments were formulated with four fertigation levels (15:7:16, 20:12:21, 25:17:26 and 30:22:31 kg NPKha(-1)) and three date of plantings (15th August, 1st September and 15th September). Among the treatments combination, 15th August sowing with 30:22:31 kg NPK ha(-1) shown highest interaction effect for the number of fruits per plant (11.47), fruit weight (235.26 g), yield per plant (2697.7 g), yield per 1000m(2) (107.91 q) under nethouse. Whereas, 15th August planting with 30:22:31 kg NPK ha(-1) recorded highest for nitrogen (236.10 mg/100g), phosphorus (41.00 mg/100g), potassium (346.33 mg/100g), calcium (19.33 mg/100g), iron (0.32 mg/100g), zinc (0.64 mg/100g) and manganese (0.42 mg/100g) content of bitter gourd fruit grown under polyhouse. Hence, cultivation of bitter gourd var. Pusa Rasdar at 15th August planting with application of 30:22:31 kg NPKha(-1) under the insect-proof nethouse found better for the successful plant growth, yield and quality.