Abstract

Broccoli is an important vegetable crop and has high nutritional and good commercial value. Sprouting broccoli has about 130 times more vitamin A contents than cauliflower and 22 times more than cabbage. The edible portion of broccoli, the terminal head rather loose, green in colour and the flower stalks are longer than cauliflower. A research experiment has been designed and carried out during 2009–10 and 2010–11 at Horticulture Research Station, Mondouri, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Monhanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India to determine the effect of GA3, NAA and their combinations (applied as seedling dipping) on growth, yield and quality improvement of sprouting broccoli. The results clearly indicated significantly good response of the growth regulator applications on growth, yield and quality attributes of sprouting broccoli. GA3 30 mg/l+NAA 30 mg/1 treatment (T10) showed best result with respect to head weight, head diameter, plant height, plant spread, projected yield, number of sprouts/plant and sprout weight. GA3 60 mg/1 treatment (T2) took least number of days for head initiation, while GA3 80 mg/1 treatment (T3) proved to be the most effective among all treatments and required minimum days for head initiation to head maturity. Plant growth regulator treatments significantly improved carotene, total sugar and total chlorophyll content, with highest increase have been recorded in case of T1-GA3 40 mg/1, whereas maximum ascorbic content has been estimated with T9-GA3 20 mg/l+NAA 20 mg/1.