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Pak. J. Bot., 45(2): 479-482, 2013.

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HOW NITROGEN AND PHOSPHORUS INFLUENCE THE PHENOLOGY OF OKRA

MUHAMMAD AJMAL KHAN¹, MUHAMMAD SAJID¹, ZAHID HUSSAIN^2*, ABDUR RAB¹, KHAN BAHADAR MARWAT², FAZAL-I-WAHID¹ AND SHAHIDA BIBI²

Abstract: Phenology and crop stand are the two important determinants that fix crop growth cycle as well as directly or indirectly affect the crop productivity. In this connection, we carried out a field trial at Horticulture Research Farm of the University of Agriculture, Peshawar during 2010 in order to sort out how N and P influence the phenology of okra using various okra varieties. The experiment was laid out in Randomized complete block design (RCBD) with split plot arrangement. The parameters studied were survival percentage (%), days to flowering, plant height (cm), pod length (cm), and sound seeds pod^-1 of the okra plants at various levels of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilizers. The different levels of N and P had a significant effect on days to flowering, plant height (cm), and pod length (cm). However, among varieties, maximum days to flowering (39.57) were recorded in Sabz Pari and minimum (36.33) in Arka Anamika; maximum plant height (104.47 cm) in Sabz Pari and minimum (86.86 cm) in Green Star. Among the fertilizer levels, maximum days to flowering (41.11) were recorded in plots of N and P fertilizers applied at rate of 150 and 120 kg ha^-1, respectively, while minimum days to flowering (33.11) were there in control plots. Similarly, the tallest plants of height 106.51 cm were observed in N and P treated plots at 150 and 90 kg ha^-1, respectively, whereas plant height was least (72.17 cm) in control plots. Pod length was highest i.e., 17.97 cm recorded in N and P combined treated plots at 100 and 120 kg ha^-1 as compared to the lowest pod length (15.35 cm) in control plots. In light of the results it could be concluded that okra is phonologically vulnerable to different levels of N and P applications in Peshawar region.

¹Department of Horticulture, ²Department of Weed Science, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar 25130 Pakistan

^*Corresponding author e-mail: zhussainws@aup.edu.pk