Influence of Humic Acid Spray on Growth and Yield of Chilli (Capsicum annum L.)

A field experiment was conducted for two years duringKharif 2010 and 2011 at Agriculture College, V.C. Farm, Mandya, Karnataka, India to evaluate the influence of humic acid spray on growth and yield of chilli. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications and seven treatments. The treatments included humic acid spray with different concentrations at 30 and 50 days after planting (DAP) and planofix spray @ 0.3 ml L^-1 at flowering and control without any chemical spray. The results indicated Increased branches, number of fruits per plant and red chilli yield in treatment T₃-humic acid sprayed @ 4 ml L^-1 twice, once at 30 DAP and another at 50 DAP. The pooled data of red dry chilli yield for two years showed significant increase due to the application of humic acid sprayed twice @ 4 ml L^-1 once at 30 DAP and another at 50 DAP, respectively over control and was at par with humic acid sprayed @ 6 ml L^-1 twice( at 30DAP and 50 DAP). The highest B:C ratio was recorded in T₃ compared to other treatments. The present study indicated that application of two sprays of humic acid @ 4.0 ml L^-1 at 30 and 50 DAP, respectively ( at 50% flowering and fruit formation stage) in chilli is economical and significantly increased the dry chilli yield.