International Journal of Plant & Soil Science

An experiment was conducted at college of horticulture, Hiriyur, Karnataka, India during 2020-21. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with seven treatments and three replications. The soil of experimental site was clay loam in texture, alkaline in pH, medium in Organic matter and phosphorous. Low in available nitrogen and medium in available potassium. Highest growth parameters namely, plant height (53.73 cm, 173.33 cm and 242.67 cm at 30, 60, 90 DAT, respectively), number of branches per plant (2.53, 7.7 and 11.60 at 30, 60 and 90 DAT, respectively), number of leaves per plant(59.37, 406 and 626.16 at 30, 60, and 90 DAT respectively), leaf area (8.70, 45.45 and 67.07 dm²plant^-1) and yield parameters viz., number of fruits (60.18 plant^-1), fruit weight (65.13 g) and fruit yield (26.83 t ac^-1) were observed in treatment which received100:100:100: kg NPK per acre through soil application. Among the fertigation treatments, treatment T₇ (40:40:40 kg NPK ac^-1 + 4 kg 19:19:19 ac^-1through fertigation) recorded the higher yield per hectare (24.37 t ac^-1) followed by T₆ treatment (40:40:40 kg NPK ac^-1 + 3 kg 19:19:19 ac^-1through fertigation) (23.29 t ac^-1). As the treatment received fertilizer and fertigation dose increased the growth and yield parameters also increased significantly. InT₃treatment which received soil application of 20:20:20 kg NPK per acre + 2 kg 19:19:19 per acre through fertigation was recorded lowest fruit yield per hectare (52.84 t). Higher yield obtained among drip fertigation treatments might be due to the maintenance of favorable soil water status in the root zone, which in turn helped the plants to utilize moisture as well as nutrients more effectively from the limited wetted area.