Effect of mulching on growth and yield on different varieties of brinjal (Solanum melongena) in northern dry Zone of Karnataka

Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) is an important and popular vegetable crop of India. Mulching is an important operation applied in field now a days to get rid off from weeds and to increases fruit quality and yield. The field experiment on Effect of mulching on growth and yield on different varieties of brinjal (Solanum melongena) in northern dry zone of Karnataka was conducted at the Vegetable Science Research Block, University of Horticultural Sciences Bagalkot, Karnataka. The results revealed that among growth parameters, highest plant was recorded in the variety Mysore local (93.00cm), followed by CVK (90.00 cm). Maximum number of cluster per plant was noticed in the variety Arka Anand, CVK and Pusa purple round (5.00). Regarding the yield parameters, highest number of fruits per cluster was reported in variety Jamakandi local (3.08), followed by Pusa purple round (3.00). Among the different treatments with mulching, fruit morphological traits like fruit length, highest was recorded in variety Arka Anand (20.33 cm), followed by Arka Nidhi (20.00 cm). Fruit width was noticed maximum in variety Jamakandi local (7.33 cm), followed by CVK (5.33 cm). Other yield parameters like, maximum fruit weight was noticed in variety Jamakandi local (80.00 g), followed by CVK (61.67 g). In the same way, maximum number of fruits per plant was noticed in variety Mysore local (28 fruits), followed by CVK (25.33 fruits) and Pusa purple round (23.67 fruits). Finally, maximum yield per plant was noticed in variety CVK (1.56 kg), followed by Mysore local (1.53 kg) and Jamakandi local (1.51 kg). Thus, yield was more in mulched condition compared to control treatment. CVK, Mysure local and Jamakandi local varieties gives higher yield in mulch treatments compared to other varieties.