EVALUATION AND ADAPTATION OF BROCCOLI GENOTYPES IN SYLHET REGION

Abstract

The studies including on station evaluation of broccoli genotypes under varied sowing dates at the experimental field of Horticulture department, Sylhet Agricultural University and on farm adaptive trials of broccoli at different farmers’ field of Sylhet and Habiganj districts were made during winter season of 2014-2015. Three broccoli genotypes viz., Green Magic, Premium and Imperial were evaluated under three sowing dates viz., 10 October, 25 October and 10 November for growth and yield while Green Magic and Imperial were considered for on farm adaptive trial for Habiganj and Sylhet district, respectively. Under on station evaluation of broccoli genotypes, variation of seedling characteristics in relation to fresh weight of seedling, shoot length, root length, largest leaf length, largest leaf breadth and number of leaves per seedling was observed among three broccoli genotypes. Among the genotypes, the minimum days to first curd initiation (68.33 day) and minimum days to first curd harvest (84.22 day) were recorded for the genotype Green Magic while these were the maximum (78.67 day and 92.67 day) for the genotype Imperial. The highest individual curd weight (608.3 g) and the highest curd yield (27.21 t/ha) were recorded from the genotype Imperial while these were the lowest (314.1 g and 13.75 t/ha, respectively) for the genotype Premium. Significant effects were also noticed for sowing dates. The minimum number of days to first curd initiation (70.67 day) and first harvest (83.33 day) were recorded from the plants grown from 25 October sowing while these were the maximum (77.33 day and 93.33 day, respectively) from 10 October sown crop. The highest individual curd weight (471.5 g) and highest curd yield (20.76 t/ha) were recorded from 10 November sowing while these were the lowest (354.7 g and 15.83 t/ha, respectively) from the plants of 10 October sowing. Due to interaction of genotypes and sowing dates, the highest individual curd weight (628.9 g) and the highest curd yield (28.2 t/ha) were achieved from the genotype Imperial when grown from 25 October sowing while these were the lowest (207.1 g and 9.32 t/ha, respectively) from the genotype Premium grown from 10 October sowing. From the yield and yield attributes of broccoli at farmers’ field of Habiganj district indicated that the curd yield was ranged from 60.3 kg to 99.54 kg per decimal while it was 111.5 kg to 149.4 kg per decimal at farmers’ field of Sylhet district. From the comparison of broccoli production between Habiganj and Sylhet district displayed that per decimal yield of broccoli in Sylhet district (133.15 kg) was much higher compared to that of Habiganj district (84.6 kg) indicating further yield improvement in Habiganj district can be made.