International Journal of Horticulture, 2025, Vol.15, No.3, 123-132 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/ijh 125 Borax was used as boron source with purity of 10 % and was brought from nearby agrovet of Marin rural municipality, Sindhuli. Three different foliar sprays were done at 30 DAT, and 45 DAT and 60 DAT. Boron was sprayed by using a small hand sprayer in the leaf portion of cauliflower. The experiment involved ten treatments where Treatment 1 (T1) served as the control, where no borax was added in spraying solution i.e. water. Treatments 2 to 4 (T2, T3, and T4) involved a low concentration of borax at 2.5 grams per liter of water, applied once, twice, and thrice, respectively, during the crop growth period. Treatments 5 to 7 (T5, T6, and T7) were given a moderate concentration of 5 grams of borax per liter of water, also sprayed at increasing frequencies—once, twice, and thrice, respectively. Similarly, treatments 8 to 10 (T8, T9, and T10) involved a higher concentration of 7.5 grams of borax per liter, applied once, twice, and thrice, respectively. 2.3 Soil characteristics Prior to field preparation, a soil test was conducted to assess the baseline fertility status. The soil was found to have low organic matter (1.26%), low nitrogen content (0.06%), high phosphorus levels (78 kg/ha), medium potassium levels (34 kg/ha), and low available boron (0.28 ppm). The soil pH was recorded at 5.2, indicating acidic conditions. These initial soil properties provided a baseline for understanding the impact of boron supplementation on cauliflower performance. 2.4 Experimental design and data collection The experiment was conducted in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 10 treatments and each treatment was replicated 3- times. Ten treatments are Control (No Boron spray), 0.025% Boron (1- time spray), 0.025% Boron (2- times spray), 0.025% Boron (3-times spray), 0.05% Boron (1- time spray) ,0.05% Boron (2times 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). The crop was harvested in March. With six sample plants, there were twenty-five total population of cauliflower in one plot (i.e. 30 * 25= 750 plants in the experimental field). The length of the experimental field was 39 m and width was 14.25 m. The length of the plot was 3.75 m with a width of 3 m. The plant spacing was 75 * 60 cm2 and the spacing between two plots was 1 m while spacing at the outer line of the field was 0.5 m. 2.5 Data record and analysis Six inner plants per plot, excluding border rows, were taken as sample plants for study. Plant growth and yield characters were recorded. All the recorded data were arranged systematically in Microsoft Excel version 16.89.1. To determine the significance difference between treatments, analysis of variance was carried out using R studio version 4.4.1. Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) was used for mean separation at 5% level of significance. recorded and analyzed statistically by least significant difference test. 3 Results and Analysis The statistical analysis showed that plant height was not significantly affected by different concentrations of boron on different days of observation. At 45 DAT, 0.025% Boron (1-time spray) was found with a maximum height of 35.21 cm, and 0.025% Boron (2-times spray) was found with minimum height of 29.62 cm. At 60 DAT, 0.075% Boron (2-times spray) was found to have a maximum height of 51.63 cm, and control was found with a minimum height of 46.47 cm. At 75 DAT, 0.025% Boron (1-time spray) was found to have a maximum height of 58.15 cm, and control was found with a minimum height of 52.45 cm. At 80 DAT, a maximum height of 59.88 cm was found in 0.05% (1-time spray), and minimum height of 53.32 cm was found in control (Table 1). Similarly, it was found that the leaf number was not statistically significantly affected by different concentrations of boron on different days of observation except at 60 DAT. At 45 DAT, 0.025% Boron (1-time spray) was found with a maximum number of leaves i.e. 9.22 and 0.025% Boron (2- times spray was found with a minimum number of leaves with 8.50. At 60 DAT, the maximum number of leaves with 12.50 was found at 0.025% Boron (2- times spray) and the least number of leaves was found at control with 10.72. At 75 DAT, 0.05% Boron (3times spray) was found to have the highest number of leaves with 14.16, and 0.05% Boron (1-time spray) was
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