Response of Ratooned Eggplant (Solanum Melongena L.) To Various Organic Plant Food Supplements

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate the response of ratooned eggplant to various organic plant food supplements as affected by the season of growth. The study was conducted in a two-cropping season, laid out in a 2×4 factorial experiment using a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Factor A was the different cropping seasons, which comprised A1- first cropping (January-May) and A2- second cropping (June- October). Factor B was different plant food supplements B1- Control, B2 - Vermitea, and B3- Fermented Plant Juice (FPJ). The data were analyzed using STAR software and LSD test for mean comparisons. The field experiment study revealed that the season of growth and the different plant food supplements applied did not influence all the growth and yield parameters except the stem girths of eggplant before ratooning and stems produced after ratooning, which was affected by the season of growing and width, of leaves and length of stem produced after ratooning which were affected by the application of various organic plant food supplements. Both factors influenced the number of non-marketable fruit, the weight of non-marketable fruit, and the number of leaves of ratooned eggplant. Generally, plant food supplements can grow ratooned eggplant at any growing season.