Dr. M. A. VAddoriaShrikant W. Patil2017-06-082017-06-082010-06http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810018798Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench), also called as “Lady’s finger” in English and as “Bhindi” in Hindi belongs to family malvaceae is one of the most important vegetable crops grown extensively throughout the country during summer and rainy seasons. The present investigation on “Effects of apical pinching and fruit picking on seed yield and quality of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench)” was carried out in two parts (Part-A field experiments and Part-B laboratory experiments) with the following objectives: 1. To study the effect of no pinching, pinching at 20 and 30 days of growth on seed yield 2. To study the effect of fruit picking on seed quality 3. To study the interaction effects of pinchings and fruit pickings on seed yield 4. To study the effect of pinching and fruit picking on different varieties of okra. Three varieties of okra i.e. GO-2, Parbhani Kranti and VRO-6 were raised in strip-spilt plot design with four replications during summer-2009 at Instructional Farm, Department of Agronomy, College of agriculture, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh (Part-A). The data were recorded on ten randomly selected plants for different traits viz., days to first flowering, days to first picking, days to maturity, number of nodes per plant, number of branches per plant, plant height (cm), fruit length (cm), fruit girth (cm), number of fruits per plant, number of seeds per mature fruit, 100 seed weight (g) and seed yield per plant (g). While seed germination (%), root length (cm), shoot length (cm), fresh seedling weight (g), dry seedling weight (g) and seed vigour index were recorded in the laboratory experiments (Part-B). The analysis of variance revealed significant differences in the varieties for all the characters except days to first picking, plant height, 100 seed weight, seed yield per plant, seed germination, shoot length, root length and seed vigour index. The mean squares due to pinching (P) were also found significant for all the traits under study. The mean squares due to varieties x apical pinchings interaction were found significant for fruit girth and number of fruits per plant. The mean squares due to fruit pickings (F) were found significant for all seed quality parameters, except seed germination per-cent and vigour index, when tested against error mean squares. The mean squares due to varieties x fruit pickings was also found significant for root length and fresh seedling weight when tested against error mean squares. Apical pinching significantly influenced growth and quality parameters. Apical pinching at 20 DAS (P1) significantly increased the vegetative growth parameters like number of branches per plant and number of nodes per plant. The apical pinching at 30 DAS (P2) has delayed first flower initiation, days to first picking and days to maturity in summer. The yield attributes viz., fruit girth, number of fruits per plant, 100 seed weight and seed yield per plant were significantly higher with apical pinching at 20 DAS, while fruit length, number of seeds per fruit were higher in no pinching (P0). The no fruit picking (F0) recorded maximum plant height (38.266 cm), fruit girth (1.677 cm) and root length (5.473 cm) while fruit length (16.689 cm), number of fruits per plant (5.715), seed yield per plant (18.823 g) and seedling dry weight (0.065 g) were higher in one fruit picking (F1). Two fruit pickings (F2) were recorded the highest number of nodes per plant (5.998), number of seeds per fruit (39.639), 100 seed weight (6.159 g), shoot length (17.450 cm) and seed vigour index (1891.089). Whereas, three fruit pickings (F3) recorded the highest number of branches (2.620), seed germination (84.002 %) and fresh seedling weight (0.144 g). The interaction effects due to varieties x apical pinchings were significant for number of fruits per plant, fruit girth, root length and fresh seedling weight. The interaction effects due to varieties x fruit pickings were significant for seed quality parameters viz., root length and fresh seedling weight. The interaction effects due to fruit pickings x apical pinchings and varieties x fruit pickings x apical pinchings were significant for fresh weight of seedling during summer.enbotanyThesis