Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) or eggplant is one of the most common, popular and principle vegetable crop grown in West Bengal. The flower dropping and less fruit setting which resulted low fruit yields of brinjal are remarkably observed due to micronutrient deficiencies in soil particularly boron and zinc. Keeping this view, the field experiment was conducted at Experimental Farm of Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, Cooch Behar, West Bengal during two consecutive winter seasons of 2018-19 and 2019-20 to find out suitable local brinjal genotype in combination with micronutrient application. The experiment was laid out in Factorial RBD with three replications. The treatments comprised of eight local brinjal genotypes (V1 - Kaljani, V2 - Seleti, V3 - Guriarpar, V4 - Lopcha, V5 - Baromasi, V6 - Barshali, V7– Lambate & V8 - Ashapuri) and four micronutrient foliar application (T0 - Control, T1 - 150 ppm boron, T2 - 0.4% Zinc Sulphate & T3 - 150 ppm boron + 0.4% Zinc Sulphate). There were significant variations among genotypes for all growth and yield as well as quality trait due to boron and zinc applications. The maximum plant height (67.66 cm), number of flowers/plant (68.66), number of fruits/plant (28.49), fruit length (19.74 cm), fruit diameter (62.67 mm), individual fruit weight (164.50 g) and fresh fruit yield (23.46 t/ha) were exhibited by foliar application of 150 ppm boron + 0.4% zinc sulphate followed by foliar application of 0.4% zinc sulphate. Among the genotypes, Lopcha recorded maximum fresh fruit yield per plant (2.01 kg) and total marketable fruit yield of 25.15 t/ha followed by Kaljani (24.72 t/ha) and Guriarpar (23.53 t/ha). Whereas, lowest fresh fruit yield (14.14 t/ha) was produced by genotype Barshali. The maximum total soluble solid (TSS) of 4.92°Brix was recorded by Barshali, but it was found highest (4.740 Brix) in control treatment i.e. no micronutrient application.

Brinjal, Solanum melongena, genotypes, micronutrients, growth, yield and quality

From the above discussion, it is concluded that foliar application of 150 ppm boron + 0.4% zinc sulphate followed by 0.4% zinc sulphate considered best for growth, yield, earliness and quality parameter in brinjal. Among the different varieties, Lopcha, Kaljani and Guriarpar considered as most promising. Lopcha and Guriarpar treated with foliar application of 150 ppm boron + 0.4% zinc sulphate considered best for yield as well as quality respectively.

Sushen Kumar Das, Subhamoy Sikder, Ram Krishna Sarkar and Shibnath Basfore (2023). Effect of Foliar Application of Boron and Zinc on Growth, Yield and Quality of Local Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) genotypes. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(12): 221-226.