Vol. 9, Issue 6, Part F (2025)

The present investigation entitled "Response of mulching and GA₃ on the performance of cabbage (Brassica oleracea var capitata)" was conducted at Agriculture Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, Raja Balwant Singh College, Bichpuri, Agra during Rabi season of 2024-25 to assess the influence of different mulching materials and GA₃ concentrations on various growth and yield parameters of cabbage. The experiment comprised of two factors, factor A: mulching - 3 types (M₀=Control (No mulching), M₁=Black Polythene mulch and M₂=Straw mulch) and factor B: GA₃ - 3 levels (G₀=Control (0 ppm GA₃), G₁=25 ppm GA₃ and G₂=50 ppm GA₃). Nine treatment combinations were used (M₀G₀, M₁G₀, M₂G₀, M₀G₁, M₁G₁, M₂G₁, M₀G₂, M₁G₂ and M₂G₂). The test crop; green cabbage was used for the experiment. The variety, Pusa Mukta was considered for the present study. The experiment was laid out in a Factorial Randomized Block Design (FRBD) with three replications. The layout of the experiment was prepared for distributing the combination of mulching and GA₃. Both Mulching and GA₃ consisted of 3 different treatments. Treatment combinations were allotted at random. The study demonstrated that the combined application of black polythene mulch and gibberellic acid (GA₃) at 50 ppm significantly enhanced the growth and yield parameters of cabbage. Among the treatments, black polythene mulch (M₁) consistently recorded the highest values for plant height (39.12 cm), leaf length (28.22 cm) and leaf width (16.50 cm) at 90 days after transplanting (DAT), while the control (M₀) recorded the lowest. Similarly, GA₃ at 50 ppm (G₂) significantly improved plant growth traits, with a maximum plant height of 39.85 cm, leaf length of 27.78 cm and leaf width of 17.04 cm, whereas the untreated control (G₀) recorded the lowest values. The interaction of mulching and GA₃ was also significant, with the M₁G₂ treatment producing the maximum plant spread (along and across the row), stem diameter, and earliest head initiation (37.24 days), in contrast to M₀G₀, which showed the least performance. Yield-related traits such as fresh weight of the whole plant, trimmed head weight and head diameter were also significantly enhanced by the M₁ and G₂ treatments, with their combination (M₁G₂) recording the highest values (1.30 kg, 0.72 kg, and 43.18 cm, respectively).