Sarma, P.Yadav, ShwetaHazarika, B.N.2022-02-152022-02-152022-01-05https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810182325Water is the most important and limiting natural resource of agriculture and rational utilization of water is need of the hour. Keeping this in view, a field experiment was conducted at Vegetable Research Farm of College of Horticulture & Forestry, Central Agriculture University, Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh during rabi season 2019-20 to evaluate the most efficient irrigation level of drip irrigation system. The experiment entitled “Effect of different levels of drip irrigation on growth, yield and quality of red cabbage (Brassica oleraceae L. var. capitata f. rubra) under mulch and non-mulch condition” conducted with eight treatments and three replications. The treatments consist of drip irrigation at 100%, 80%, 60% CPE and hand irrigation each with and without mulch (polyethylene) condition. The detail of treatments were T1 (control), T2 (100% CPE with drip irrigation), T3 (80% CPE with drip irrigation), T4 (60% CPE with drip irrigation), T5 (100% CPE with drip irrigation under mulch), T6 (80% CPE with drip irrigation under mulch), T7 (60% CPE with drip irrigation under mulch) and T8 (hand irrigation under mulch).The treatments consist of drip irrigation at 100%, 80%, 60% CPE and hand irrigation each with and without mulch (polyethylene) condition. The detail of treatments were T1 (control), T2 (100% CPE with drip irrigation), T3 (80% CPE with drip irrigation), T4 (60% CPE with drip irrigation), T5 (100% CPE with drip irrigation under mulch), T6 (80% CPE with drip irrigation under mulch), T7 (60% CPE with drip irrigation under mulch) and T8 (hand irrigation under mulch). From the present investigation it was found that the red cabbage plants irrigated at 100% CPE with drip irrigation under mulch recorded maximum growth attributes i.e. plant height (37.60 cm), plant spread (North-South and East-west) (72.93 and 72.13 cm, respectively), number of wrapper leaves (56.67) and least days to 50% head maturity (102.67). Further, the head yield and yield related attributes i.e. circumference (43.25 cm), polar diameter (14.39 cm), equatorial diameter (16.47 cm), net of weight head (1.25 kg) and yield (42.18 t/ha) were also noted higher in treatment T5. Water use efficiency (WUE) was significantly influenced by different irrigation regimes. Treatment T7 (60% CPE with drip irrigation under mulch) reported maximum WUE (5.35 t/ha mm) which was at par with T6 and T4 while treatment with full irrigation recorded minimum WUE. Drip irrigation regimes significantly influenced the quality attributes of red cabbage. Treatments with least application of irrigation water (T1) reported the highest TSS (10.27 ºB), ascorbic acid content (102.33 mg/100g), total carbohydrates (3.30 g/100g) and anthocyanin (23.66 mg/100g) content while total protein content synchronously increased with decreased levels of irrigation and the maximum total protein content (2.84 g/100g) was reported from T4 (60% CPE with drip irrigation) which was at par with T5 and T8. Thus, treatment T5 (100% CPE with drip irrigation under mulch) may be recommended for better growth and yield of red cabbage under protected conditionEnglishThesis