International Journal of Horticulture, 2025, Vol.15, No.3, 123-132 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/ijh 123 Research Article Open Access Effects of Boron Foliar Sprays at Different Concentrations on Growth and Yield of Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) in Marin, Sindhuli, Nepal Anish Parajuli 1 , Dinesh Khanal 2, Debina Sunari 1, Tej Bahadur Budhathoki 1, Promise Shrestha 1, Ganesh Lamsal 3 1 Faculty of Agriculture, Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, 44209, Nepal 2 Department of Genetics and Plant breeding, Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, 44209, Nepal 3 Department of Horticulture, Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, 44209, Nepal Corresponding author: anishparajuli4@gmail.com International Journal of Horticulture, 2025, Vol.15, No.3 doi: 10.5376/ijh.2025.15.0014 Received: 15 Apr., 2025 Accepted: 29 May, 2025 Published: 15 Jun., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Parajuli et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Parajuli A., Khanal D., Sunari D., Budhathoki T.B., Shrestha P., and Lamsal G., 2025, Effects of boron foliar sprays at different concentrations on growth and yield of cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) in Marin, Sindhuli, Nepal, International Journal of Horticulture, 15(3): 123-132 (doi: 10.5376/ijh.2025.15.0014) Abstract The experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of boron foliar sprays on growth and yield of cauliflower in Marin, Sindhuli, Nepal. An experiment was conducted during the winter season under open field conditions by using a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 10 treatments and 3 replications. Treatments were foliar concentrations of 0.025% boron (1time spray), 0.025% boron (2- times spray), 0.025% boron (3- times spray), 0.05% boron (1- time spray), 0.05% boron (2- times spray), 0.05% boron (3- times spray), 0.075% boron (1- time spray), 0.075% boron (2- times spray), 0.075% boron (3- times spray) and control (no application of boron). The findings demonstrate that boron application positively impacts key yield parameters such as biomass, curd weight, curd diameter, curd size, and yield, while also reducing physiological disorder like hollowness in cauliflower curds. The experiment illustrates that the average mean yield of different treatments was 20.96 t/ha. Overall, the highest yield per hectare (25.66 t/ha) was found at 0.075% Boron (2- times spray) and the lowest yield per hectare (9.6 t/ha) was found at control. The study showed that the highest biomass of 3.02 kg was found at treatment 0.05% Boron (3- times spray), and the lowest biomass was found at Control with 1.46 kg. Data of the study revealed that the highest curd weight of 1.997 was found at treatment 0.05% Boron (3- times spray) and the lowest biomass was found at Control (0.71 kg). Likewise, the highest curd size (66.76 cm) was reported at treatment 0.075% Boron (2- times spray), and the smallest curd size (44.55 cm) was found at control. The study showed the highest curd diameter of 23.03 cm was found at treatment 0.075% Boron (2- times spray), and the lowest curd diameter of 14.25 cm was found at control. The study also revealed that the highest length of hollowness (8.57 cm) was found at Control and the lowest length of hollowness (0.16 cm) was found at 0.075% Boron (3- times spray) while, the highest diameter of hollowness (1.83 cm) was found in control and the lowest diameter of hollowness (0.16 cm) was found at 0.025% Boron (3- times spray). The data revealed from the study concluded that applying foliar spray of 0.075% boron (2 times) enhances cauliflower productivity and curd size making it a suitable recommendation for farmers in the region. Keywords Cauliflower (Brassica oleraceavar. botrytis); Attributing trait; Boron; Curd; Foliar spray; Hollow stem 1 Introduction Agriculture in Nepal is the largest economic sector that solely contributes around 24.1% of National GDP, providing employment to 60.4% of the population. 28.0% of total land is cultivated. The data shows productivity of vegetable is 14.48 mt/ha with production of 3,993,167 mt (MoALD, 2022/23). Higher level of diversification in terms of climatic and geographic variations is a key characteristic of Nepalese agriculture. Agriculture in Nepal has peculiar characteristics due to the high range of altitudes and temperature throughout the country. Within almost 200 Km in north-south, we find all kinds of temperature and crop types as well. This provides both opportunities and challenges for agriculture development in Nepal. Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) is an annual plant of Brassicaceae family that reproduces through seeds and it develops a white compact inflorescence meristem known as a "curd", which is the edible portion (Singh et al., 2021). It has high nutritional value and it is known as one of the healthiest plants on the planet and is gaining popularity worldwide as a low-calorie, gluten-free substitute for rice and flour, leading to an increase in
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