International Journal of Horticulture, 2017, Vol.7, No.21, 172-179
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recorded plant height values of 113.10 cm and 109.64 cm at first harvest and second harvest.
Figure 1 Effect of pruning techniques and foliar nutrition on estimated green leaf yield in curry leaf at first and second harvest
Among the different types of bio-stimulants, the application of humic acid @ 0.3 per cent (N
4
) recorded higher
plant height of 99.46 cm and 95.88 cm at first harvest and second harvest. Interaction between harvest height (L)
and harvest interval (H) showed highly significant effect of plant height. The treatment L
2
H
2
(harvest at 30 cm
height + three months harvest intervals) recorded higher plant height values (115.36 cm and 111.76 cm at first
harvest and second harvest. The highest plant height of 103.26 cm and 99.15 cm at first harvest and second
harvest were recorded by the treatment L
2
N
4
(30 cm harvest height + 0.3 per cent of humic acid).Similarly, the
interaction between harvest interval (H) and foliar nutrition (N) showed significant influence on plant height.
Among the treatments, the treatment H
2
N
4
(30 cm harvest height + 0.3 per cent of humic acid) recorded highest
plant height (123.37 cm and 120.57 cm at first harvest and second harvest). In this study, significant to highly
significant influence on plant height was showed by the interaction of harvest height (L), harvest interval (H) and
foliar nutrition (N). The highest plant height values of 127.84 cm and 124.78 cm at first harvest and second
harvest.
This could be ascribed that, pruning might shift the allocation of metabolites in favour of vegetative growth. This
is in line with the findings of Singh et al. (2012) who have also observed a similar trend of growth in guava.
Harvesting the plant once in three months intervals (H
2
) recorded significantly higher plant height at all the three
harvests. This might be due to the fact that plant would have sufficient time for adequate growth and increased
photosynthetic activity. Humic acid is a commercial product that contains many elements which improves the soil
fertility and increase the availability of nutrients and consequently increased the plant growth. Similar reports
were also made by Eslah and El-hefny (2010) in cowpea.
3.2 Effect of harvesting techniques and bio-stimulants on number of secondary branches
The data pertaining to number of secondary branches per plant of curry leaf are presented in the Table 3 and
Table 4. From the table it was observed that individual effect
viz
., harvest height, harvest interval, bio-stimulants
and their combination effects showed highly significant influence on this trait.
Among the two different harvest heights, the treatment L
2
(30 cm harvest height) registered higher number of
secondary branches per plant (6.53 and 11.98 at first and second harvest). Significant difference was exhibited by
different harvest intervals on number of secondary branches per plant. The treatment H
2
(three months harvest
intervals) registered more number of secondary branches per plant (6.72 and 12.76 at first harvest and second
harvest respectively) than the treatment H
1
(two months harvest intervals).Among the different treatments, the
treatment N
4
(0.3 per cent of humic acid) produced more number of secondary branches per plant (6.69 and 12.71
at first and second harvest). Interaction between harvest heights and harvest intervals showed highly significant
influence on number of secondary branches per plant.
Among the different treatments, the treatment L
2
H
2
(30 cm harvest height + three months harvest intervals)
registered the highest number of secondary branches per plant (6.75 and 12.84 at first harvest and second harvest
