How Hormonal Growth Factors, using Boron, Gibberellic Acid and Ethrel, can improve the yield of vegetables

#agriculture #organicfarming #farming #farmingwithminimumcost #agricultutre

I did week-end agriculture way back in 2005 to 2006 to grow vegetables, mainly bottle gourd (Loki) and bitter gourd (Karela) by only using natural organic compounds without use of any chemicals whatsoever. These vegetables are chosen as their prices don’t fluctuate during the entire period of the year.

Many farmers do not know the fact that both bottle gourd and bitter gourd plants have both male and female flowers, and yield depends only on number of female flowers. In bottle gourd the ratio is usually 11:1 i.e. there is one female flower for every 11 male flowers. Similar, in bitter gourd, the ratio is 25:1.

I wanted to see whether this sex ratio can be tweaked in favour of female flowers, using natural minerals or acids. Then I found that by spraying Ethrel and Boron (in ppm and only two or three sprays) at a four leaf stage we can change the ratio. Similarly, I used Gibberellic acid at flower stage to retain as many flowers as possible. With these methods I used to get tremendous yield and these vegetables used to be fresh even after keeping it for 10-15 days without refrigeration.

Some of the search articles on the issue:-

For the readers, I am giving links for some of the research articles on how Boron and Ethrel effects sex ratio and yield in bottle gourd and bitter gourd farming:- 

Significant increase in growth and fruit characters would be obtained by the spraying of ethrel @200 ppm at 2 and 4 true leaves for bottle gourd:- https://www.ijcmas.com

GA3 (Gibberellic Acid) @ 50 ppm was effective for enhancement in vegetative growth, fruit and seed yield and modification of sex expression while sprayed twice at three leaf stage for bitter gourd: https://www.researchgate.net

How Boron @4 ppm decreased number of days to first male, flower production, reduced male: female flower ratio for bitter gourd:  https://www.ijcmas.com 

Last but not the least, these are very cheap material available anywhere in India, which can be used to reduce the cost of agriculture and increase the yield beyond the traditional methods of agriculture.

Agriculture: Dwindling bee pollination serious concern for sustainable agriculture and food production

#agriculture #yield #organicfarming #pollination #bees #honeybees

A large proportion of agricultural yield in crop farming, gardening and fruit production depends on pollination by bees. The crop yield is significantly higher with pollination by bees. This applies to all kinds of fruit such as apples, strawberries and cherries, almost all oilseeds such as rapeseed, linseed and safflower, and all kinds of vegetables such as beans, peas and cucumbers. The seed production of fodder crops and vegetables also benefits from bee pollination.

The flowers that are pollinated by bees form fruit that is much larger, heavier and better shaped. They are also much better quality.

The increase in yield in some of the crops due to bee pollination:-

1. Mustard - 43%

2. Sunflower - 32-48%

3. Cotton - 17-19%

4. Onion - 93%

5. Apple - 44%

With increased use of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, bee population has been declining effecting our food production. So, natural organic farming combined with placing bee hives in proper place in the agricultural fields improves yield drastically.

Read on

TNAU Agritech Portal :: Sustainable Agriculture

Bee visits plants for its food, nectar and pollen. This floral fidelity of bees is due to their preference for nectars having sugar contents and pollens with higher nutritive values. Besides getting food for the bees as a result of their visit pollinate a number of crops.